The National Weather Service in Lincoln has updated its outlook of the winter weather which began Monday.

As is often the case, the Illinois River is a divider between more severe and more benign, with Rushville recording six inches of snow and areas of Peoria and Woodford County about four inches. Nicole Albano, an NWS meteorologist, said Tuesday the Springfield area could get another inch or two this evening, with winds gusting to 40-45 mph. If the snow is heavy and wet, as expected, blowing will be less of a factor.

“Snow will start to push out of the area by 10 p.m. to midnight, from west to east. Then, by the early morning hours of Wednesday – 2-4 a.m. – most of the precipitation should be out of the area.

“Just because the snow is ending doesn’t mean the impacts will stop. With those strong northwest winds, we are still anticipating some blowing and even some drifting snow, especially west of the Illinois River.”

It may be too early to talk about snow later in the week, but Albano said temperatures will plunge to single digits by Sunday and stay there until the middle of next week.