Officials of the National Meteorological Service published a Outlook for hazardous weather conditions early Tuesday morning for parts of north-central and northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana as a deepening low-pressure system approaches and is expected to follow a polar vortex by the middle of next week, officials said.
Much of the central United States, from the Rockies to the Midwest, was braced for blizzard conditions on Tuesday, while states further south saw tornado warnings from a massive storm blowing across the country. An area extending from Montana to western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said up to 2 feet of snow was possible in parts of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska.
Meanwhile, ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains. The National Weather Service warned that up to half an inch of ice could form and winds could gust up to 45 mph in parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota.
A major Arctic blast was expected to move into the Plains and Midwest next week.
The last polar vortex in the region occurred in January 2019. In Chicago, the polar vortex produced the coldest temperatures ever for Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, but did not break the region's all-time coldest temperature — minus 27 — set in 1985 .
Winds will gust up to 40 mph by Wednesday morning. Another round of widespread rain will develop Wednesday afternoon. Some of that rain will be locally heavy, which could lead to a few instances of low-lying flooding and rising rivers by the end of the week, weather officials said.
Current temperatures at Midway Airport were recorded at 36 degrees.
The forecast was mostly cloudy, with a high near 42.
The Associated Press contributed
