As a winter storm approaches the southern portion of the Chicago-area, potentially bringing 6-to-12 inches of snow along with it, the National Weather Service says that travel may become “very difficult-to-impossible” on Wednesday.
A winter storm warning is set to take effect at 10 p.m. Tuesday in Kankakee County in Illinois, along with Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana.
Forecasters say that heavy snow is expected in those locations through Wednesday, with another burst of snow Wednesday evening and into Thursday, bringing even more accumulation to impacted areas.
“Travel will be very difficult to impossible,” the NWS said in a warning issued Monday.
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Heavy snow is expected to begin Tuesday night and stretch well into Wednesday before a break in the heaviest snowfall rates in the afternoon and evening, officials said.
LaSalle, Grundy, Cook and Will counties will be under a winter storm watch beginning on Tuesday evening, according to NWS officials. While forecasts are calling for the heaviest snow to likely stay south of that region, any deviation to the storm’s path could lead to large accumulations in those communities, leading NWS to remind residents to use caution.
Officials say that snowfall amounts could vary by “several inches over distances of 10-to-20 miles.”
