Jan. 04--Temperatures will plummet to dangerously low levels as snowstorms that began overnight are expected to leave up to 11 inches of snow on the ground in some parts of northern Illinois by the time they finish Tuesday morning.
Snowfall Sunday morning was expected to accumulate to between 1 and 3 inches by late afternoon, when the precipitation was expected to take a break, according to the National Weather Service.
By 2 p.m. Sunday, 2 inches of snow had fallen in Mundelein and Carpentersville, while at O'Hare International Airport, by about noon, 1.3 inches had fallen since midnight.
Temperatures are expected to fall into the teens by evening Sunday, then drop to lows of 3 to 7 below zero in the suburbs and between 3 below and 1 degree above zero downtown, according to the weather service, which declared a wind chill advisory for northern Illinois from midnight Sunday through noon Monday.
Wind chills are expected to drop to 15 to 30 below zero, leading to the risk of anyone going outside suffering frostbite within minutes, according to the weather service.
Monday night, a snowstorm awaits Chicagoans and other residents of northern Illinois, bringing between 3 and 6 inches in most places and up to 7 or 8 inches in some isolated areas, said National Weather Service meteorologist Ben Deubelbeiss. The weather service has declared a winter storm watch, effective Monday night through early Tuesday.
Frigid temperatures are expected to persist through the week, with temperatures Wednesday possibly hitting 10 degrees below zero.
The snowstorm Monday is expected to start between 6 and 9 p.m. and finish sometime Tuesday morning, Deubelbeiss said.
"It'll be white powdery snow," Deubelbeiss said. "The roads might still be pretty messy on Tuesday."
