National Weather Service officials posted a Hazardous Weather Outlook early Tuesday morning for portions of north central and northeast Illinois, and northwest Indiana, as a deepening low pressure system approaches, and a polar vortex was expected to follow mid-next week, officials said.
Much of the central United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest, was braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions, while states farther south saw tornado warnings from a massive storm blowing across the country. An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet of snow was possible in some areas 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 significant Arctic blast was expected to move into the Plains and Midwest next week.
The last polar vortex in the area happened January 2019. In Chicago, the polar vortex produced the coldest-ever temperatures for Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, but it did not break the area’s all-time coldest temperature — minus 27 — set in 1985.
Winds will gust to 40 mph through Wednesday morning. Another round of widespread rainfall will develop Wednesday evening. Some of this rain will be locally heavy, which may result in a few instances of flooding of low-lying areas and river rises into the end of the week, weather officials said.
Current temperatures at Midway Airport registered at 36 degrees.
The forecast was mostly cloudy, with a high near 42.
The Associated Press contributed