WINTER STORM UPDATE: Sauk Valley under warning, snow to start falling this afternoon

The winter storm meteorologists anticipate will muscle its way through the Sauk Valley today is expected to hit hardest during the midafternoon through the late evening, dropping snow at an intense pace and creating dangerous travel conditions.

A National Weather Service winter storm warning is in effect for Carroll and Whiteside counties until noon Wednesday. Lee and Ogle counties are under a winter storm warning until 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Forecasters expect moderate to heavy snow and freezing rain to begin falling after noon, with the heaviest period of precipitation from midafternoon to 10 p.m.

Falling snow could transition to freezing drizzle and sleet around 5 p.m., and continue falling as a wet, frozen mix through 8 p.m.

Precipitation is expected to end around midnight Wednesday, leaving behind loads of snow and sheets of ice.

“Peak snowfall rates are likely to reach 1 to 2 inches per hour, especially for locations along and north of a line from Sigourney to the Quad Cities to Sterling,” the NWS reported. “The heavy snowfall rates will last the longest for areas north of [U.S. Route] 30, where the precipitation will be slower to change to a mix.”

The NWS expects 6 to 10 inches of total snow accumulation across southern Carroll and northern Whiteside counties. Areas along and south of Route 30 are expected to see 3 to 6 inches of total snowfall.

The region stretching along and south of Route 30 to north of Interstate 80 could see total ice accumulations of .10 to .25 of an inch, according to forecasters.

Ogle County is expected to experience total snow and sleet accumulations of 5 to 9 inches, and ice accumulations of up to .10 to .20 of an inch.

Lee County is projected to see total snow and sleet accumulations of 4 to 7 inches, and ice accumulations of up to .10 to .20 of an inch.

Visibility may drop below a quarter mile due to “peak snowfall rates up to 2 inches per hour, combined with southeast winds gusting up to 30 mph,” making road travel “very difficult to impossible,” meteorologists warned.

The same hazardous conditions also could result in power outages across the area.

“Both heavy snow and sleet are hard to move, and create very poor travel conditions,” meteorologists wrote in a forecast discussion Tuesday morning. “...[I]mpacts are certain to be high regardless of whether we’ve got 6 inches of snow, or 1-2 inches of sleet and snow with heavy rates of either. It’ll be difficult to move and slick.”

The cities of Dixon, Rock Falls and Sterling all have declared a snow emergency, meaning street parking restrictions are in place to aid in the removal of snow.