Tom

See if you can take some pics Dominick. Your under some 30dbz rates right now...

Lake Plume is right near the I-294 hwy and slowly heading inland...about to get in on that. I'm only 2 miles west of there.

Midwest Buildit, I think your going to be surprised with 3-4", maybe even more. This is an intense band and it has enough "punch" to dump snows well inland.

This is just the beginning! The Plume is growing in intensity offshore of MKE...Looks like a lot of us on here in Cook/Lake county are going to get surprise snows from this event. Isn't that just the way this winter has been??? Very excited we can all reep the rewards from this LES event. Dominick, how much do you have so far??? I bet your going to get 8-12" by tomorrow morning. Just measured 1.5"

That's a great Disco from LOT! I had a feeling they would mention SE Lake County would get in on the action. Eastern Du Page is getting in on the action now as well. ChiTownWx, I think BG will pick up some decent snow out of this band. Maybe a few inches if this band sets up just right.

Bill Bellis just showed his future cast and it had the band sitting in N Cook county through about 1:00am! Band definitely farther west than earlier forecasted. I wouldn't be surprised if ORD picked up 4" or more from this. It's snowing gang busters downtown right now, less than 1/4 mile visibility.

Downtown about to get rocked with that LES band...

The LES band has a really good chance to swing into N Cook county for a little while. Looks like it is swinging to the west farther than forecasted earlier.

SREF's for ORD are on the rise slightly...mean is about .15qpf...fluff that up easily to about 3"

Just measured about 1.1" IMBY...-SN ATM...very powdery snow.

Comparing the latest HRRR precip output to where the band sits right now, it looks a little farther west. I think parts of SE Lake County may even get it on the action.

I was looking at the earth wind map and you can see the contour lines just funneling the wind right down the lake into NE IL.

Geo's, you may even get in on some lake enhancement and it looks like one of those bands is about to hit your area. Flake size over here has increased in size over the last 10-15 minutes. I just took a trip to the store and its snowing so nicely outside right now and the roads are snow covered with the wind whipping up small ground blizzards.

You can see the lake enhancement developing over Cook County right now...

There is the Lake Plume taking on a NE/SW trajectory...beeline for NE IL...

Nice map. That's exactly what I was thinking and how the pattern looked like in December overall. I don't see the Polar Vortex making a visit into the GL like this month but pieces may break off of it from time to time after storm systems pass on by.

Geo's, I didn't say we would be locked into the NW Flow we are currently in. Maybe you misunderstood but what I said is we are going to change the overall jet stream pattern and instead of coming out of the NW, it will be coming out of the SW with systems hitting the PAC NW and bringing much needed moisture into Cali (esp northern half). I see a lot of storms coming out of CO/4 Corners region beyond 10 days from now. This is when we will start seeing bigger/juicier storm systems hitting the Plains/Midwest/GL.

HRRR showing that band right over you Dominick around Midnight... LOL Scott, can we say typo!!!!

Just saw this post from JB comparing GFS Ensemble run 10 days ago to today's run for Jan 25h...you be the judge and see for yourself.

WGN's RPM has the lake plume sitting ORD also for a few hours and then shifts towards the city and keeps pounding central/southern Cook county till 1:00pm tomorrow. It never ends up going into IN. If that's a trend, I think LOT may pull some Lake Snow Watches in NW IN.

Your right Dominick, I think the main band will develop about 5 or so miles to the east of ORD. Your sitting pretty good IMO.

Still to far to tell where the storm track sets up but the time frame will be towards the last days of January. I must say, it seems it may develop a little to far to the south as it sits right now but NE may get some initial snows that develop out ahead of the main system. Looks like it will be a lower lakes Cutter for the time being.

18z GFS bringing the PV farther west and its getting even colder for early next week. It's amazing to see how much this model flip flops when it initially did signal a colder regime then back off and now bringing back the mother load of cold to the same places that saw it in early January. Mother Nature just wants to ring the same tune all winter long.

If the pattern does break, it will be only for a couple days as a transition in the jet stream will evolve and create a SW Flow. The jet stream will be at its peak in intensity during the early later parts of January and early February. I don't see a prolong period of warmth in our region. Depending on of course if a storm tracks to our north ushering in warmer temps. Overall, I expect the main storm track nearby or just to our south. Early Feb I see another push of colder air. We are in a pattern that Ol' Man Winter just keeps on giving, don't see that changing anytime soon.

Interesting, 18z GFS has a .20qpf blob in NE IL over N Cook/S Lake...