Arctic air will begin to move on out with rising temps expected Friday night from the low single digits into the 10s. We’ll continue to “warm” Saturday with temps heading through the 20s to near the freezing mark.

The problem? We’re throwing another round of precip into the Region. With warmer air aloft, the precip is likely to fall as rain. With surface temperatures (think roads, decks, sidewalks) below freezing, that rain will freeze on contact and form a glaze of ice as we go throughout the day.

Here’s how the system will look on radar:

Notice the large shield of freezing rain across a good portion of Illinois and Indiana. If you have travel plans tomorrow from late morning through the evening, you’re likely to encounter some slick travel.

This won’t be a BIG ice storm, but it doesn’t take much ice to cause problems. We’re looking at a glaze for most–the kind you’ll have to scrape your windshield and untreated surfaces will have a coating of ice…again, enough to cause problems.

Take a look at how much ice accumulation we’re expecting:

Once you reach a tenth of an inch, you have some issues. Power outages and tree damage begins around a half inch–so as mentioned, we’re not expecting that!

In terms of timing, we’ll likely start with sunny skies Saturday! The clouds will quickly roll in and freezing rain will be on and off beginning early afternoon through the evening. We’ll hopefully jump a degree or two above freezing later in the day–this would allow any freezing rain to turn over to plain old cold rain. Precip should clear out with a few areas of freezing drizzle possible Saturday night.

We’ll have updates as needed throughout your Saturday!