Southwest IL could be in for “potentially-historic cold temperatures” Tuesday night
You knew trouble was on the way, if you are a spring temperature fan, when the winds started blowing hard out of the north-northwest Monday evening as the sun set. The air began to feel measurably colder.
If the National Weather Service has it right, Monday night temperatures were a pleasure compared to what forecasters predict for Tuesday night and early Wednesday: ``Potentially-historic cold temperatures,” as the 6 p.m. area forecast discussion puts it.
As of now, the weather service has issued a freeze warning starting Tuesday night. Or as the discussion states: “ The lovely temperatures we experienced today will be a distant memory 24 hours from now when a highly-anomalous, potentially historic cold air mass takes hold of the region tomorrow night. In addition to 100-year- old minimum temperature records for April 21st remaining in serious jeopardy of being broken, a damaging freeze appears all but certain areawide.”
Not to mention rain and possibly snow, though it’s hard to say how much until it’s closer to precipitation time.
Meanwhile, be glad you don’t live in Kansas. Here’s a story that our friends at The Wichita Eagle posted Monday evening. Hint: It’s a rather large amount of snow predicted for parts of Kansas.
And just north of us, here’s what our friends at The Pantagraph in Bloomington are saying about the forecast.
What about here in southwestern Illinois? Right now, as of early Monday evening, the forecast calls for rain to start Tuesday afternoon, then possibly snow beginning after 4 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Less than half an inch of accumulation is predicted.
The high Tuesday is expected to be 45 degrees - at 11 a.m. - then the temperature will keep falling, with a low around 29 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph after 9 p.m., the weather service states
More frost is expected early Wednesday, mostly before 8 a.m., but it should brighten up during the day, with a high near 53.
Remember to protect your plant and your pets Tuesday night.
This story was originally published April 19, 2021 at 8:34 PM.