PEORIA Ill. – Ahead of the snow storm we’re expecting this weekend, the National Weather Service is previewing what locals can expect.
NWS meteorologist Ed Shimmon hosted a webinar early Friday, depicting the probable path of the storm, among other things.
He says, there’s a possibility the storm looks a lot different than we expected.
“There also is that sleet band that is going to set up down here, and that can really quickly lower snow amounts. Only a half-inch of sleet can trigger a winter storm warning, sleet is really impactful so we could see that winter storm warning level of amounts of precipitation, but it may be in the form of sleet instead of 5-6 inches of snow,” Shimmon said.
Shimmon later said that isn’t as likely as the expected snowfal.
National Weather Service timing of snow impacts
He also claims, snow could start to fall earlier than expected.
“The potential of snow starting is already there, before Sunday morning at 6:00am, and that is going to shift in from southwest to northeast and then set up in an east/west orientation — and that is the potential where you could have the heaviest snow and where those bands actually establish is going to be where the heaviest snow is, and there is going to be a sharp cut-off on the northern end,” Shimmon said.
The NWS meteorologist also discussed a cause for concern, for freezing rain, in certain areas.
“It’s going to move pretty quickly, but there is going to be an east/west band of potentially quite heavy snow that sets up across Central Illinois. There is going to be some freezing rain but that looks like it is probably going to be more farce, but a little bit south of our county warning area, as far as impact of ice,” Shimmon said.
Shimmon also says, he’s expecting this to be the most snow the area has seen, since the Groundhog storm in February 2022.
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