textproduct: Central Illinois

KEY MESSAGES

- Very cold air remains in place through the weekend with overnight and morning wind chills falling as low as 10 to 20 degrees below zero. A Cold Weather Advisory is in effect for counties near and east of Interstate 55 tonight through Wednesday morning.

- Mostly dry weather is expected through the end of the week with low end chances for snow returning later this weekend into early next week.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 206 PM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

Surface analysis this afternoon shows a weak cold front stretched from central Indiana westward along the I-70 corridor in Illinois. Gusty northwest winds have developed behind the front with gusts upwards of 25 to 35 mph being reported across the area. Temperatures have climbed into the teens to low 20s as of 2 pm though the winds are making it feel as if we are only in the single digits. Further northwest of here, an elongated ~1032 mb surface high stretches from Saskatchewan southward into the central Plains states and will expand eastward into the middle Mississippi Valley tonight. Winds will become lighter and skies will clear under the high, allowing temperatures to quickly drop between zero and the negative single digits overnight, with the coldest values over the deeper snowpack in eastern and southeast Illinois. Wind chills will be even colder tonight with values ranging from 15 to 20 below zero near and east of the I-55 corridor. A Cold Weather Advisory is in effect for these counties through Wednesday morning.

Bitterly cold temperatures stick around through the weekend as much of the central US remains under northwest flow aloft while a large upper low spins over the Hudson Bay. Air temperatures through the weekend look to range from the teens to low 20s during the day with lows in the single digits above/below zero. Wind chills will be coldest during the overnight and morning timeframe with values as low as 10 to 20 below zero expected through Sunday morning. Additional cold weather headlines may be needed in the upcoming nights. Temperatures slowly begin their ascension toward the freezing mark by the early to middle parts of next week.

Precipitation chances will be minimal through the end of the week though occasional clipper systems passing by to our north may bring increased cloud cover or flurries at times. A strong arctic high will accelerate southward into the Plains states on Friday, which will pinch off an upper trough over Hudson Bay and send it swinging through the Midwest, Southeast US, and then up the eastern seaboard later this weekend. Precipitation associated with this feature looks to hold off until it interacts with a stalled out front over the Southeast US. The NBM introduces low end precipitation chances here later this weekend into early next week as the trajectory of upper clipper systems becomes oriented over the region. The first notable wave looks to move through on Sunday with probabilities for at least of dusting of snow sitting around 20-40% (NBM and LREF).

NMA

AVIATION

(For the 00z TAFs through 00z Wednesday Evening) Issued at 554 PM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

VFR conditions will prevail at all TAF sites next 24hrs. Skies should be clear through the night, then scattered AC advects over the sites tomorrow morning and continues through the afternoon. Winds will be northwest around 10kts through the night, but then become more westerly tomorrow with speeds of 11-12kts through the day.

Auten

ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Cold Weather Advisory from 9 PM this evening to 10 AM CST Wednesday for ILZ038-042>046-048-051>057-061>063-066>068-071>073.