Overview
- Winter storm watches and warnings are in effect through Monday evening, with the National Weather Service warning of dangerous to impossible travel within intense bands and wind gusts near 30 mph.
- Official forecasts call for 6 to 12 inches in the Chicago metro area with isolated higher amounts, more than a foot near Marquette by Tuesday morning, and 5 to 11 inches across parts of northern Indiana.
- A mesolow over Lake Michigan is enhancing instability, and NWS meteorologists say thundersnow is possible from southwest Michigan to Mason and Oceana counties.
- Forecasters stress highly localized impacts where conditions can flip from safe to whiteout over a few miles, with particular concern for untreated roads, bridges, and overpasses.
- In Michigan, early system snow left 1 to 2 inches in the southeast, a Saginaw Bay burst could bring 2 to 6 inches mainly on grass, and 6 to 9 inches is possible near Niles and from Leelanau County to Pentwater, with bands shifting and easing by early Tuesday.