| On the afternoon and night of Monday, February 11, a mix of wintry precipitation produced two tenths to one half inch of ice accumulation in portions of northern Illinois, including the Chicago metro area, and far northwest Indiana. In addition, there were 2 to 4 inches of snow accumulation in far northern Illinois. After the icing event, strong winds picked up on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 12 and continued into that night. This resulted in scattered power outages as the winds blew ice-covered tree branches and wires. In addition, the combination of the wind and falling and blowing snow resulting in hazardous travel. |  |
Fast Facts
Other ice amounts include:
Science
Early on Monday afternoon, February 11, a center of low pressure was developing across the central United States. Ahead of this low pressure system, a broad area of precipitation stretched from Texas into the central Atlantic coast along a frontal boundary. During the afternoon this boundary, along with the precipitation, began lifting north as a warm front across Illinois and Indiana. In the cold air well head of the advancing boundary, subfreezing temperatures at all levels of the atmosphere were supporting areas of moderate snowfall across Iowa, Wisconsin, and far northern Illinois. In warmer locations well south of the boundary toward central Illinois, above-freezing temperatures from the surface up to around 5000 feet were supporting widespread rainfall. In between these two locations, roughly from northern Indiana along the I-80 corridor of Illinois, the situation was more complicated.
Around 5:00 PM on Monday, weather instruments on a plane taking off from Midway Airport recorded a subfreezing layer of air from near the surface up to around 5000 feet. This was similar to the cold air being seen to the north of this location. In fact, this vertical temperature profile looked very similar to that measured at the exact same time by a plane departing from O’Hare Airport north of Midway. However, at Midway, around the 5000 ft level, the vertical temperature profile showed a layer of warmer above-freezing air. It is common to see milder air like this along a warm front riding up and over colder and denser air in the surface layer.
In terms of precipitation type, this elevated warm layer makes a big difference. When all levels of the atmosphere are below freezing, snow is the expected outcome. However, with an elevated warm layer above a subfreezing layer, sleet and freezing rain start to become a concern. If the elevated warm layer is shallow enough and the surface refreezing layer is deep enough, falling snowflakes melt slightly and then refreeze into ice pellets (sleet). Sleet was in fact observed for a time Monday afternoon. As the warm front continued to advance north, the elevated warm layer got deeper and the surface cold layer became milder (though still subfreezing). Eventually the falling snow flakes melted completely into raindrops and did not refreeze until hitting something on the ground. By the time the freezing rain tapered to freezing drizzle during the overnight hours, some locations had received almost a half inch of freezing rain.
By Tuesday morning, temperatures at locations that had received the most freezing rain had nudged up to or just above the freezing mark. This is fortunate because strong winds expected Tuesday afternoon would produce considerable problems for heavily weighted trees and power lines.
Snow Totals
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| Snow map updates between 8 and 10 a.m. |
Public Information Statement National Weather Service Chicago IL 1007 AM CST Tue Feb 12 2019 ...Morning Snowfall Roundup... The following are snow amounts for the previous 24 hours as measured in the morning by NWS Cooperative Observers and CoCoRaHS observers. Observations are usually taken at 7 AM. 24-hour Snowfall Amounts for Tuesday(02/12/19)... Northern Illinois Snow Location (County): fall(inches) Hebron (McHenry)..............................3.8 Bull Valley 2WNW (McHenry)....................3.7 Wonder Lake 1WNW (McHenry)....................3.6 Waukegan 2N (Lake)............................2.5 Lake Zurich (Lake)............................2.5 Rockford (Winnebago)..........................2.2 Highwood 1S (Lake)............................2.1 Capron (Boone)................................2.0 Rockford 2ENE (Winnebago).....................2.0 Rockford 1NW (Winnebago)......................1.9 Roscoe 2ESE (Winnebago).......................1.8 Roscoe 2se (Winnebago)........................1.8 Crystal Lake (McHenry)........................1.6 Mundelein (Lake)..............................1.6 Dixon (Lee)...................................1.5 Rockford 3NE (Winnebago)......................1.5 Genoa (De Kalb)...............................1.4 Lincolnshire 1N (Lake)........................1.4 Buffalo Grove 2N (Lake).......................1.3 Woodstock 4SW (McHenry).......................1.2 Rochelle (Ogle)...............................1.2 Botanic Gardens (Cook)........................1.0 Palatine 1NNE (Cook)..........................1.0 Roselle 1ESE (Du Page)........................1.0 De Kalb (De Kalb).............................0.8 Elgin (Kane)..................................0.8 Elk Grove Village 1ESE (Cook).................0.8 Schaumburg 2E (Cook)..........................0.7 Ashton (Lee)..................................0.7 Riverwoods (Lake).............................0.6 Barrington (Lake).............................0.5 Hoffman Estates 2SE (Cook)....................0.5 De Kalb (De Kalb).............................0.5 Geneva 1SSW (Kane)............................0.5 Elgin 2W (Kane)...............................0.5 Algonquin 1N (McHenry)........................0.5 Crystal Lake 1WSW (McHenry)...................0.5 Paw Paw (Lee).................................0.5 Hoffman Estates 5W (Cook).....................0.4 Batavia 1WSW (Kane)...........................0.4 Plainfield 2SSE (Will)........................0.4 Lisle Morton Arb (Du Page)....................0.4 Park Ridge (Cook).............................0.3 Harwood Heights (Cook)........................0.3 Elk Grove Village 2WSW (Cook).................0.3 Lincolnwood 2E (Cook).........................0.3 Elmhurst 2SE (Du Page)........................0.3 Batavia 1WNW (Kane)...........................0.3 St. Charles 6NW (Kane)........................0.3 Ohare Airport (Cook)..........................0.3 Batavia (Kane)................................0.2 Chicago 6ESE (Cook)...........................0.2 Palos Park 1SW (Cook).........................0.2 Oak Park 1NNE (Cook)..........................0.2 Downers Grove 0.4NNE (Du Page)................0.2 La Grange Park 1SSW (Cook)....................0.1 Burr Ridge 2SW (Du Page)......................0.1 Sugar Grove 1NE (Kane)........................0.1 Manhattan (Will)..............................0.1 Midway Coop (Cook)............................0.1 Westmont (Du Page)............................0.1 Elburn (Kane)...............................TRACE Earlville 3S (La Salle).....................TRACE Bridgeview 1NNW (Cook)......................TRACE Oak Park 2S (Cook)..........................TRACE Oak Lawn (Cook).............................TRACE Park Forest 1SW (Cook)......................TRACE Wheaton 2NNE (Du Page)......................TRACE Aurora 4SE (Du Page)........................TRACE Batavia 2WNW (Kane).........................TRACE Elburn (Kane)...............................TRACE North Aurora 2NE (Kane).....................TRACE Manhattan 1ESE (Will).......................TRACE Peotone (Will)..............................TRACE Kankakee (Kankakee).........................TRACE Romeoville (Will)...........................TRACE Peotone (Will)..............................TRACE Watseka (Iroquois)..........................TRACE Northwest Indiana Snow Location (County): fall(inches) Munster 2NNW (Lake)...........................0.2 Dyer 1WNW (Lake)............................TRACE St. John (Lake).............................TRACE |
Rain Totals
Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Chicago IL
1006 AM CST Tue Feb 12 2019
...Morning Rainfall Roundup...
The following are rain amounts for the previous 24-hours
as measured in the morning by NWS Cooperative Observers
and CoCoRaHS observers.
Observations are usually taken between 6 AND 8 AM.
24-hour rainfall amounts
for Tuesday(02/12/19)...
Illinois Rain
Location (County): fall (inches)
Woodstock 4SW (McHenry)......................0.92
Streator (Livingston)........................0.90
Ashton (Lee).................................0.89
Rockford 3NE (Winnebago).....................0.81
Ottawa 2N (La Salle).........................0.80
La Salle (La Salle)..........................0.79
Earlville 3S (La Salle)......................0.77
Ottawa 1NW (La Salle)........................0.77
Morris (Grundy)..............................0.76
Park Forest 1SW (Cook).......................0.75
Ottawa (La Salle)............................0.75
Pontiac 1SE (Livingston).....................0.74
Fairbury (Livingston)........................0.72
Minooka (Grundy).............................0.72
Peru 1ENE (La Salle).........................0.72
Mendota (La Salle)...........................0.72
Ashkum 5.6E (Iroquois).......................0.71
Rockford 1NW (Winnebago).....................0.71
Kankakee (Kankakee)..........................0.71
Mazon 0.5ENE (Grundy)........................0.70
Amboy (Lee)..................................0.69
Paxton (Ford)................................0.69
Lincolnwood 2E (Cook)........................0.68
Earlville 5NNE (De Kalb).....................0.68
Crete 3E (Will)..............................0.68
Rockford 2ENE (Winnebago)....................0.68
Monee (Will).................................0.68
Chicago Ridge (Cook).........................0.67
Park Forest (Cook)...........................0.67
Palos Park 1SW (Cook)........................0.66
Morris 6ESE (Grundy).........................0.66
Coal City 3N (Grundy)........................0.66
Herscher 3E (Kankakee).......................0.66
Wonder Lake 1WNW (McHenry)...................0.66
Paxton (Ford)................................0.66
Aurora (Kane)................................0.65
Dixon (Lee)..................................0.65
Chicago 6ESE (Cook)..........................0.65
Downers Grove 0.4NNE (Du Page)...............0.65
Burr Ridge 2SW (Du Page).....................0.65
Gibson 6NE (Ford)............................0.65
Mundelein (Lake).............................0.65
Watseka (Iroquois)...........................0.65
Botanic Gardens (Cook).......................0.64
Hoffman Estates 5W (Cook)....................0.64
Watseka 6.9WNW (Iroquois)....................0.64
Sugar Grove 1NE (Kane).......................0.64
Geneva 1SSW (Kane)...........................0.64
Waukegan 2N (Lake)...........................0.64
Channahon 2SSE (Will)........................0.64
Joliet 2n (Will).............................0.64
Manhattan (Will).............................0.64
Rochelle (Ogle)..............................0.64
Bourbonnais (Kankakee).......................0.63
Coal City 4NNW (Grundy)......................0.63
Park Ridge (Cook)............................0.63
Harwood Heights (Cook).......................0.63
Gibson 3WNW (Ford)...........................0.63
Carbon Hill 3.1N (Grundy)....................0.63
Batavia 2WNW (Kane)..........................0.63
North Aurora 2NE (Kane)......................0.63
St. Charles 6NW (Kane).......................0.63
Highwood 1S (Lake)...........................0.63
Waukegan (Lake)..............................0.63
Dwight (Livingston)..........................0.62
Oak Park 2S (Cook)...........................0.62
Homewood (Cook)..............................0.62
Elmhurst (Du Page)...........................0.62
Bull Valley 2WNW (McHenry)...................0.62
Lake Zurich (Lake)...........................0.62
Elburn (Kane)................................0.61
De Kalb (De Kalb)............................0.61
Batavia 1WSW (Kane)..........................0.61
Elburn (Kane)................................0.61
Elgin 2W (Kane)..............................0.61
Plainfield 2SSE (Will).......................0.61
Romeoville (Will)............................0.61
La Grange Park 1SSW (Cook)...................0.60
Wheaton 2NNE (Du Page).......................0.60
Batavia 1WNW (Kane)..........................0.60
Algonquin 1N (McHenry).......................0.60
Naperville 4SSW (Will).......................0.60
Midlothian (Cook)............................0.59
Oak Park 1NNE (Cook).........................0.59
Elmhurst 2SE (Du Page).......................0.59
Rockford (Winnebago).........................0.59
Elk Grove Village 1ESE (Cook)................0.58
Riverwoods (Lake)............................0.58
Westmont (Du Page)...........................0.57
Palatine 1NNE (Cook).........................0.56
Beecher 3SSE (Will)..........................0.56
New Lenox 3E (Will)..........................0.56
Chatsworth (Livingston)......................0.55
Bridgeview 1NNW (Cook).......................0.55
Oak Lawn (Cook)..............................0.55
Elk Grove Village 2WSW (Cook)................0.55
Chatsworth (Livingston)......................0.55
Barrington (Lake)............................0.54
Batavia (Kane)...............................0.54
Elgin (Kane).................................0.54
Hebron (McHenry).............................0.54
Lisle Morton Arb (Du Page)...................0.54
Oak Lawn 1N (Cook)...........................0.53
Manhattan 1ESE (Will)........................0.53
Peotone (Will)...............................0.53
Steward (Lee)................................0.53
Capron (Boone)...............................0.51
Schaumburg 2E (Cook).........................0.51
Roscoe 2ESE (Winnebago)......................0.51
Ohare Airport (Cook).........................0.51
Roscoe 2se (Winnebago).......................0.51
Lincolnshire 1N (Lake).......................0.50
Brandon Road Lock & Dam (Will)...............0.50
Pontiac (Livingston).........................0.50
St Anne (Kankakee)...........................0.50
Buffalo Grove 2N (Lake)......................0.49
Morris (Grundy)..............................0.48
Huntley (McHenry)............................0.48
Aurora 4SE (Du Page).........................0.46
Crystal Lake 1WSW (McHenry)..................0.44
Midway (Cook)................................0.44
Midway Coop (Cook)...........................0.44
Morris 2SSE (Grundy).........................0.43
New Lenox 2SE (Will).........................0.43
West Chicago (Du Page).......................0.42
Lansing (Cook)...............................0.42
Kankakee (Kankakee)..........................0.38
Worth (Cook).................................0.34
Hoffman Estates 2SE (Cook)...................0.34
Chicago 5NE (Cook)...........................0.33
Paw Paw (Lee)................................0.30
Aurora (Kane)................................0.29
Crystal Lake (McHenry).......................0.28
Joliet (Will)................................0.26
Somonauk 2NE (De Kalb).......................0.25
De Kalb (De Kalb)............................0.22
Wheeling (Cook)..............................0.19
Genoa (De Kalb)..............................0.17
Marseilles Lock & Dam (La Salle).............0.15
Peru (La Salle)..............................0.03
Indiana Rain
Location (County): fall (inches)
Brook 4W (Newton)............................0.84
Rensselaer 2N (Jasper).......................0.74
De Motte 1SSW (Jasper).......................0.68
Dyer 1WNW (Lake).............................0.68
De Motte 6S (Jasper).........................0.66
Morocco (Newton).............................0.66
Rensselaer 2SSW (Jasper).....................0.65
De Motte 4SW (Jasper)........................0.62
Rensselaer (Jasper)..........................0.60
Wheatfield 4WSW (Jasper).....................0.57
Valparaiso 4SW (Porter)......................0.56
Gary 5ENE (Lake).............................0.55
Wheatfield 3S (Jasper).......................0.48
Crown Point (Lake)...........................0.47
Crown Point 1N (Lake)........................0.47
Valparaiso 2WSW (Porter).....................0.47
Valparaiso 6SSW (Porter).....................0.47
Munster 2NNW (Lake)..........................0.44
Crown Point 2WSW (Lake)......................0.43
Remington (Jasper)...........................0.41
Valparaiso (Porter)..........................0.34
St. John (Lake)..............................0.31
$$
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Storm Reports
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1150 AM CST TUE FEB 12 2019
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1141 AM ICE STORM CHANNAHON 41.43N 88.23W
02/12/2019 WILL IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL 0.25 INCHES.
1140 AM ICE STORM MANTENO 41.25N 87.84W
02/12/2019 KANKAKEE IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL 0.25 INCHES.
1138 AM ICE STORM NAPERVILLE 41.77N 88.15W
02/12/2019 DUPAGE IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL 0.2 INCHES.
1137 AM ICE STORM NEWARK 41.54N 88.58W
02/12/2019 KENDALL IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL APPROXIMATELY 0. 4 INCHES.
1136 AM ICE STORM DOWNERS GROVE 41.79N 88.01W
02/12/2019 DUPAGE IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL 0.25 INCHES.
1134 AM ICE STORM MARENGO 42.25N 88.61W
02/12/2019 MCHENRY IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL OF 0.50 INCHES.
1132 AM ICE STORM OSWEGO 41.61N 88.21W
02/12/2019 WILL IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL OF 0.50 INCHES.
1129 AM ICE STORM PLAINFIELD 41.61N 88.21W
02/12/2019 WILL IL PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL OF 0.50 INCHES OF ICE.
1000 AM FREEZING RAIN BOLINGBROOK 41.70N 88.07W
02/12/2019 E0.50 INCH WILL IL TRAINED SPOTTER
ICE AMOUNT 0.45 TO 0.50. TAKEN NEAR BOUGHTON
ROAD AND WEBER ROAD.
0935 AM FREEZING RAIN CHICAGO 41.88N 87.63W
02/12/2019 M0.00 INCH COOK IL NWS EMPLOYEE
LARGE BRANCHES AND POWER LINES DOWN.
0800 AM FREEZING RAIN DEKALB 41.93N 88.75W
02/12/2019 M0.54 INCH DE KALB IL TRAINED SPOTTER
REPORT FROM GURLER ROAD.
0556 AM ICE STORM 3 ESE VALPARAISO 41.45N 87.01W
02/12/2019 PORTER IN ASOS
STORM TOTAL OF 0.41 INCHES OF ICE MEASURED
AT THE VPZ ASOS.
0553 AM ICE STORM MIDWAY AIRPORT 41.79N 87.75W
02/12/2019 COOK IL ASOS
STORM TOTAL OF 0.46 INCHES OF ICE MEASURED
AT THE MDW ASOS.
0552 AM ICE STORM ROCKFORD AIRPORT 42.20N 89.10W
02/12/2019 WINNEBAGO IL ASOS
STORM TOTAL OF 0.34 INCHES OF ICE MEASURED
AT THE RFD ASOS. TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS OF 2.2
INCHES OF SNOW ALSO REPORTED THUS FAR.
0552 AM ICE STORM DUPAGE AIRPORT 41.91N 88.25W
02/12/2019 DUPAGE IL ASOS
STORM TOTAL OF 0.42 INCHES OF ICE MEASURED
AT THE DPA ASOS.
0552 AM ICE STORM 1 WSW BEACH PARK 42.42N 87.87W
02/12/2019 LAKE IL ASOS
STORM TOTAL OF 0.07 INCHES OF ICE MEASURED
AT THE UGN ASOS.
0552 AM ICE STORM 2 WNW SUGAR GROVE 41.77N 88.48W
02/12/2019 KANE IL ASOS
STORM TOTAL OF 0.5 INCHES OF ICE MEASURED AT
THE ARR ASOS.
0552 AM ICE STORM 1 NE PROSPECT HEIGHTS 42.12N 87.90W
02/12/2019 COOK IL ASOS
STORM TOTAL OF 0.3 INCHES OF ICE MEASURED AT
THE PWK ASOS.
0551 AM ICE STORM OHARE AIRPORT 41.97N 87.92W
02/12/2019 COOK IL ASOS
STROM TOTAL OF 0.44 INCHES OF ICE
ACCUMULATION REPORTED FROM THE ORD ASOS. 0.3
INCHES OF SNOW ALSO REPORTED.
0530 AM SNOW 5 NW WOODSTOCK 42.36N 88.53W
02/12/2019 M3.0 INCH MCHENRY IL CO-OP OBSERVER
3 INCHES OF SNOW AND ICE COMBINED, MELTED
DOWN TO 0.56 INCHES.
0530 AM FREEZING RAIN PEOTONE 41.34N 87.79W
02/12/2019 E0.25 INCH WILL IL CO-OP OBSERVER
MELTED DOWN TO 0.52.
0500 AM FREEZING RAIN BURBANK 41.74N 87.78W
02/12/2019 M0.44 INCH COOK IL CO-OP OBSERVER
Storm Reports
Public Information Statement National Weather Service Chicago IL 901 PM CST Tue Feb 12 2019 /1001 PM EST Tue Feb 12 2019/ ...Maximum Wind Gusts Through 9 pm Tuesday Evening... Location Speed Time/Date ---------------------------------------------------- Gary Airport 45 MPH 0445 PM 02/12 Pontiac Airport 45 MPH 0835 PM 02/12 Sugar Grove - Aurora Arpt. 44 MPH 0706 PM 02/12 Kankakee Airport 44 MPH 0815 PM 02/12 Valparaiso Airport 41 MPH 0356 PM 02/12 Chicago Crib 40 MPH 0650 PM 02/12 West Chicago - DuPage Arpt. 40 MPH 0709 PM 02/12 Lansing Airport 40 MPH 0435 PM 02/12 Chicago Midway 40 MPH 0637 PM 02/12 Chicago O`Hare 40 MPH 0418 PM 02/12 Rockford Airport 40 MPH 0448 PM 02/12 Rensselaer Airport 40 MPH 0335 PM 02/12 Wheeling - Chicago Exec. Arp 37 MPH 0511 PM 02/12 Waukegan Airport 36 MPH 0802 PM 02/12 Observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying equipment and exposures. We thank all volunteer weather observers for their dedication. Not all data listed are considered official.
Additional
Photos
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| Photo courtesy of Cheli Mateja Paw Paw, IL |
Photo courtesy of Terrie Sheetz Plainfield, IL |
Photo courtesy of Danielle Nellie Beverly IL |
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| Photo courtesy of Jeremy Hylka Joliet, IL |
Photo courtesy of Alex Pipkalejs Lemont, IL |
Photo courtesy of Mark Gottlieb West Chicago, IL |
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