textproduct: Central Illinois

KEY MESSAGES

- Bitter cold continues through at least this weekend, with low temperatures near or below zero and minimum wind chills falling 10 to 20 degrees below zero each night through Friday night in most areas. Another Cold Weather Advisory is posted east of the IL river valley from 9 pm this evening until 10 am Wednesday.

- Gusty west to southwest winds will produce some patchy blowing and drifting snow this morning over central and southeast IL, especially in open rural areas.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 345 AM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

The Cold Weather Advisory from McLean, Logan and Sangamon counties east until 6 am will likely be able to end it a bit early. Temps have been nearly steady or slowly rising during the night with breezy sw winds 10-20 mph and gusts 20-30 mph. Some wind chills around 10 below from Bloomington to Litchfield eastward to the Indiana border. We issued a new Cold Weather Advisory east of the IL river valley from 9 pm this evening until 10 am Wednesday for wind chills getting down to 15-24 below zero. HREF has a 40-80% chance of wind chills getting colder than 15 below zero from I-55 east between 2-8 am Wed.

The 09Z/3 am surface analysis shows 1003 mb low pressure near the northeast shores of Lake Superior near Quebec Harbour and west of Wawa in Ontario Canada. A cold front extends southwest through southeast parts of WI and Iowa into southern Nebraska. A patch of broken mid level clouds with bases of 10-12k ft was from Peoria to Lincoln to Paris northeast and drifting southeast ahead of the cold front. The CAMs have the cold front pushing se through central IL during this morning, exiting Southeast IL during midday. Brisk sw winds ahead of the front gusting up 22-30 mph to switch nw after frontal passage. Northeast CWA will see more cloud cover today while chances of light snow should stay ne of area with better forcing/lift over the Great Lakes region. Highs today in the upper teens and lower 20s in central IL, coldest from I-74 north to mid 20s south of a Effingham to Robinson line. Breezy nw winds this afternoon should diminish around sunset and into this evening as skies clear from the west as 1030-1032 mb Canadian high pressure over central Saskatchewan province settles into the Central Plains and ridging over the Midwest tonight. This will bring in more bitter cold air with lows 5-10 below from I-55 east and zero to 5 below over the IL river valley. Wind chills likely lower to 15-24 below zero east of the IL river valley during overnight into mid Wed morning and have issued a cold weather advisory for this.

A weaker low pressure system moves into the northeastern Great Lakes region Wed pushing another cold front se through IL Wed afternoon/evening. This front to pass through dry as well with increasing clouds over area during Wed. Not quite as breezy Wed with west to WSW winds turning WNW to NW and gusting 15-25 mph on Wed. Highs Wed in the upper teens and lower 20s again (mid 20s from Rushville to Jacksonville west), coldest (upper teens) in east central IL. Lows Wed night of zero to 5 below over central and east central IL and zero to 5 above in southeast IL and over the IL river valley. Wind chills appear to lower to 10-15 below late Wed night from I-55 east and north of I-70. A northern stream short wave drops down into the central plains on Thu and will likely see increasing mid/high clouds during Wed night and a fair amount of mid level clouds over area on Thu with lighter NW winds under 10 mph. Cold highs Thu in the low to mid teens in central IL and upper teens south of I-70. Lows Thu night of zero to 7 below with coldest readings from I-55 east where wind chills likely lower to 10-20 below zero overnight Thu night into mid Fri morning when another cold wx advisory may be needed especially east of the IL river over deeper snow pack.

A strong upper level low/trof pivots southward across the southern Great Lakes on Fri and will likely bring snow showers to northeast IL and the Great Lakes region. Currently blended models keep pops less than 15% over central IL but will need to watch for light snow chances especially ne of I-74. Meanwhile a strong 1045-1050 mb Arctic High pressure settles southward into the upper Midwest and ridging into the Central Plains and ridges into the MS river valley and IL during this weekend. This to reinforce the bitter cold air over the region through at least this weekend. Highs Fri in low to mid teens and wind chills overnight Fri night into Sat morning likely reach 10-20 below zero again especially east of the IL river. Very cold yet Sat with highs in mid teens to lower 20s, with the lower 20s from the IL river nw.

As large arctic high pressure settles into the low MS river valley and ridging into the TN/OH river valley by early next week, will see a slow moderation in temperatures with highs in the low to mid 20s Sunday and mid 20s to around 30F Mon and upper 20s/lower 30s next Tue. These readings are still a good 10 degrees below normal. Peoria, Lincoln and Springfield temperatures are near normal from Jan 1-26th, but will likely end the month below normal by several degrees as well below normal temperatures continue rest of the month.

The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) 8-14 Day Outlook for Feb 3-9th has a 33-40% chance of below normal temperatures east of I-55 and trending near normal temperatures west of I-55. CPC has a 35-40% chance of below normnal precipitation over the CWA during this time from with greater than 40% chance of below normal pcpn in southern IL.

07

AVIATION

(For the 06z TAFs through 06z Tuesday Night) Issued at 1100 PM CST Mon Jan 26 2026

VFR conditions will prevail at all TAF sites next 24 hours. Clear skies overnight will become partly cloudy as high cirrus moves over the area. However, scattered, lower, mid level clouds around 8-12k ft will advect over all sites for the day and then become mostly clear again tomorrow evening after sunset. Winds will be southwest through the night and then become more westerly early tomorrow morning, then west to northwest tomorrow around noon. Wind speeds will be gusty with gusts of 22-25 kts overnight, lasting through the day. Then winds decrease tomorrow evening after sunset. The gustier winds could produce some patchy blowing snow, so have that at all sites, with no restriction to visibilities, with the gustier winds. Also will continue mention of wind shear at all sites overnight with 2k ft WSW winds at 45 kts.

Auten

ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Cold Weather Advisory until 6 AM CST early this morning for ILZ038-042>046-051>057-061>063-066>068-071>073.

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.