National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

1/7 3:00PM - Ongoing rain Thursday transitions to snow through the evening into the overnight, bringing potential winter weather impacts locally. Large differences in timing of transition to snow lowers overall confidence in amounts and accompanying winter weather impacts. Should an earlier transition occur, higher snowfall amounts will likely be realized with impacts to the Thursday evening commute possible. Continue monitoring forecast for details.
Heavy snow porential increases for Saturday as initial snowfall progresses northeast overnight Friday into Saturday morning. Current confidence for highest amounts above 4" east of the Mississippi River Valley in Wisconsin. Track of storm expected to change in coming forecasts, altering location and value of highest amounts. Continue monitoring forecast for details.
Before a switch to snow, rain, heavy at times, will affect areas primarily from northeast Iowa to southwest Wisconsin. Given the mostly frozen ground, ponding of water will be possible especially in low lying areas or where drains are obstructed.
Unseasonably warm temperatures persist through the end of the work week, but even our weekend cooldown will struggle to get temperatures back to average. Dry conditions are on tap for today, but rain moves back in for Thursday as the first of two back-to-back systems affects the region. This rain may change to snow Thursday night, with a brief break during the day on Friday before snow moves in Friday night. The exact track of the second storm remains more uncertain and will dictate exactly where the heaviest snow falls.