textproduct: Central Illinois

KEY MESSAGES

- Wind chills in the single digits below zero are expected into tonight and early Tue morning. The threat of very cold weather will likely return Thursday night and Friday and continue through at least the middle of next week. Wind chills will likely drop to 5 to 20 below zero overnight Thu night and Fri morning, and potentially to 20 below or colder over much of central IL overnight Fri night into Sat morning. Wind chills will likely be below zero yet on Saturday and Sunday nights.

- Near daily chances (10-30%) for light snow showers and flurries exist throughout this week and upcoming weekend, especially from I-74 north Tuesday night, over southeast IL Friday night into Saturday night, but with little or no snow accumulation.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 245 PM CST Mon Jan 19 2026

Patchy stratocumulus clouds lingered ne of Champaign but were decreasing past few hours and cirrus clouds have shifted into southern IL. The visible satellite showing the light snow pack over northern parts of Champaign, Piatt and Vermilion counties into central parts of McLean and DeWitt counties. Brisk west to WNW winds 12-22 mph and gusts 25-35 mph and temps in the teens was giving wind chills in the single digits below zero. 1033 mb Canadian high pressure over northeast OK and southeast KS was ridging into southern Iowa and western IL and helping clear the skies and to see west winds gradually diminish late today and evening as high pressure settles into the Ozarks and mid MS river valley by overnight.

An elongated northern stream short wave over the eastern Dakotas into sw MN will quickly pivot southeast into central/northern IL overnight and increase clouds from the nw during this evening along with bringing a chance of flurries to mainly northern/ne IL tonight. Northern Lights may be visible tonight especially from northern IL north but clouds may get in the way this evening and early overnight. Lows tonight of 4-9F (coldest ne CWA) and wind chills in the single digits below zero, and approaching 10F below from BMI and Rantoul northeast.

Partly to mostly sunny skies Tue, though clouds increasing over nw half of CWA later Tue afternoon with next short wave trof moving into the upper Midwest. Not as cold or windy Tue with highs in the upper 20s/lower 30s, mildest sw CWA and southeast IL where temps could reach around freezing. SSW winds pick up to 10-15 mph Tue afternoon with gusts to around 20 mph. The nest clipper system could bring light snow chances as far south as I-74 during Tue night with best chance of snow accumulations north of Knox, Stark and Marshall counties. Lows Tue night in the low to mid 20s. Breezy SW veer west to WSW winds with gusts 20-30 mph on Wed as weak cold front moves through, and to bring our mildest day this week with highs in the mid to upper 30s central IL and 40-45F in southeast IL. Clouds to decrease from west to east during the day Wed.

A cold front to push se through central IL on Wed night and may see some light snow or flurries skirt areas north of I-74 but better chances of snow showers will be north/ne of CWA. Cooler highs Thu in the upper 20s/lower 30s, with mid 30s from highway 50 south. Much colder air ushers into the area during Thu night with passage of arctic cold front. Lows Thu night of 5 above to 5 below over central IL and 6-12 in southeast IL. Wind chills to lower to 10-20 below by late Thu night over central IL and in the single digits below zero in southeast IL.

Extended models continue further south track of southern stream storm system late this week especially 12Z GFS model. ECMWF models brings light snow into southern CWA Sat afternoon and Saturday night while GEM models is further north into central IL with light snow. Continued with NBM pops for this weekend wx system and pcpn type if it happens should be cold enough for all snow with mixed pcpn south of our area. The bigger wx story will likely be the bitter cold air and wind chills next weekend into early next week. Wind chills could get to 15-25 below zero overnight Fri night into Sat morning. Cold air advisories may be needed as early as Thu night/Fri morning and possible extreme cold warnings/watch may be needed Fri night/Sat morning over central/se IL. This may rival the cold snap we had this past mid December and bitter cold wind chills well below zero likely continue Sat and Sunday nights.

The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) 8-14 Day Outlook for Jan 27-Feb 2nd has a 55-65% chance of below normal temperatures over central and southeast IL with a 40-50% chance of below normal precipitation.

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AVIATION

(For the 00z TAFs through 00z Tuesday Evening) Issued at 510 PM CST Mon Jan 19 2026

VFR conditions are forecast this cycle, with a couple rounds of passing mid level clouds tonight and Tuesday morning with bases at 7-9k feet. West winds will quickly lose gustiness with sunset and remain under 10 kt tonight, then back SSW and increase to 10-12 kt by late morning.

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ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.