With a winter storm alert issued throughout Cook County, residents can expect to see a lot of snow on Tuesday morning, but if the lake’s rise occurs during the storm, then the city of Chicago can see a total of really impressive blizzard.
According to the latest forecasting models, the Chicago area can see more than 20 to 25 centimeters of snow from Sunday night to Tuesday morning. This in itself is a remarkable snowstorm, but areas near Lake Michigan may have even higher totals than that.
According to the HHR model, the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood could see 15.8 inches of snow on Tuesday if lake-like snow develops as expected. Evanston could see 14.7 inches of snow, and Midway Airport could even be involved in that, with more than 25 inches of snow possible there.
To the north, Winnetka could see more than a foot of snow with the highlight of the lake.
There are several important factors at play when it comes to snow totals. The narrowness of the snow strip that would affect Chicago and the areas north of the city can cause changes in the forecast as the day progresses on Monday, which means that other lakeside communities may see a high amount of snow if the trail the storm changes.
Stay tuned on NBC 5’s interactive radar, live blog and other weather features in the NBC Chicago app.