Cold air’s grip on the area has tightened. While small pockets of warm air at cloud level make it possible a little freezing drizzle could linger with Wednesday’s sporadic flurries, a repeat of Tuesday’s widespread 0.25” ice accumulations across most west and northwest suburban areas is unlikely. Tuesday’s 0.67” of precipitation (water equivalent) at O’Hare made it one of the city’s two heaviest precipitation events since the 1”+ deluge back on Aug. 23. With just 13% of it possible sunshine, December’s opening 11 days have been the cloudiest here since 1997.
As icy as it was over sections of the metro area Tuesday, areas west and north were hardest hit. By late Tuesday, 60,000 Iowa households were in the dark as a result of the icestorm there. Snow blanketed much of southern Wisconsin. Accumulations reached 7” at Cottage Grove just east of Madison while to the west of Milwaukee, Oconomowoc was hit by 5.9”.
-By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
