The forecast for central Illinois is dialed down a bit but is still fearsome. The National Weather Service in Lincoln has adjusted the forecast snow total down to two or three inches, but the outcome, says warning coordination meteorologist Ed Shimon, won’t be different in any significant way from the outlook of Tuesday afternoon.
“This is about impacts and not about a number,” Shimon said during an online briefing Wednesday. He said the snowfall will begin in the late morning Thursday and bring about a half-inch per hour. But, he adds, the system will move so quickly it won’t have time to snow an inch per hour.
A winter storm warning is in effect from 6 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Saturday. Shimon says holiday travel is the reason to upgrade a 48-hour watch to a 48-hour warning.
Thursday night to Friday night, travel is expected to be difficult to impossible.