Why southwestern Illinois didn’t get as much snow as forecast, according to meteorologist

Early this week, weather models showed the metro-east could receive up to 10 inches of snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service was still predicting 4-8 inches. However, that’s all changed.

According to Lydi Jaja, a meterologist with the NWS of St. Louis, as of early Wednesday morning, the region only had received 1-3 inches of snow. And she did not expect that amount to change much, if at all.

She explained why the totals ended up so low.

“The rain took a lot longer to transition to snow than we expected,” she said. “So that really ate into the snowfall amounts that we forecast.”

Jaja still stressed caution to motorists on the roads. The region remains under a winter storm warning until noon Wednesday.

Looking ahead, with projected highs of 46 on Friday and 50 on Saturday, the snow likely will melt quickly.

The National Weather Service recommends keeping plugged into the forecast as it develops, www.weather.gov.

This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 9:11 AM.