PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Despite multiple rounds of winter weather so far this month, much of Illinois is below average for snow accumulation this winter.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Lincoln, there is a deficit in snowfall for much of the state, especially in the eastern half of the state.
Areas east of the Illinois River, like the Twin cities, have seen 2″ of snow, which is about 6″ less than average for this time of year.
One of the office’s meteorologists said that there are other types of storm patterns that can be bigger snow producers than what we’ve seen.
“We like to call them ‘Panhandle Hooks.’ They come out of Texas, the panhandle. They kind of curve upright. They go up towards the Great Lakes and depending on where they travel and sometimes, we get a whole bunch of snow out of those,” said NWS Lincoln Senior Meteorologist James Auten.
Auten said one big snowstorm could do away with much of the snowfall deficit, and there’s still a lot of winter left to go.
Chief Meteorologist Chris Yates has a full article on the Weather Blog.