textproduct: Central Illinois

KEY MESSAGES

- A chilly weekend is in store with highs in the 30s and overnight lows in the teens. Wind-chill values will dip into the single digits both Saturday and Sunday nights.

- An upper-level disturbance will bring a few snow flurries to parts of central Illinois Saturday night into Sunday. There is a very low probability (10-20% chance) for measurable snowfall along and northeast of a Rantoul to Danville line.

LONG TERM

(Sunday through Next Friday) Issued at 237 PM CST Fri Feb 20 2026

As a prominent upper low establishes itself over the Great Lakes, the flow will become increasingly cyclonic across Illinois early next week. 12z Feb 20 models all show a short-wave trough dropping southward out of Canada around the low, which in turn generates enough synoptic lift to trigger a period of snow showers across mainly northeast Illinois into Indiana Saturday night and Sunday. While models do not yet feature any measurable precip across the KILX CWA, the 12z HREF shows a 10-20% chance of greater than 0.1 snowfall along and northeast of a Rantoul to Danville line. Given the favorable synoptic set-up, think it is wise to mention snow flurries along/northeast of a Peoria to Paris line. Will need to keep an eye on the evolution of the wave and future model runs...and may eventually need to bump up PoPs across the E/NE counties.

Aside from the snow flurries, the main weather story this weekend will be the blustery conditions. NW winds of 10-15mph will be common on Saturday, but they will increase to 15-20mph with gusts up to 30mph on Sunday as the pressure gradient increases. High temperatures will only reach the upper 20s and lower 30s on Sunday with overnight lows dropping into the teens. Wind-chill values will dip into the single digits Saturday night...then will bottom out near zero Sunday night into early Monday morning.

After one more cold day on Monday, the Great Lakes upper low will lift northeastward and upper heights will rise across the Midwest. As a result, highs will climb into the 40s on Tuesday, then well into the 50s by Wednesday. The next chance for widespread precipitation will materialize by the middle of next week as a storm system and its associated cold front pass through the region. Model solutions vary at that time range: however, consensus is beginning to focus FROPA during the Wednesday afternoon/night time frame. Have added 20-40 PoPs accordingly. Once the front passes, temps will cool back into the 40s on Thursday.

Barnes

AVIATION

(For the 00z TAFs through 00z Saturday Evening) Issued at 508 PM CST Fri Feb 20 2026

VFR skies this cycle with mid level clouds increasing tonight, then lowering to 5-8k ft bases on Saturday. WNW winds will quickly lose gustiness with sunset, then increase again by midday Saturday with some gusts near 20 kt for the afternoon.

25

ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.