CHICAGO — The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Wednesday, with parts of the city due for 6 inches of "heavy, wet" snow.
The worst part: The snowstorm will start between 6 and 9 a.m., just in time for the morning commute, and it won't end until Thursday morning, said meteorologist Ben Deubelbeiss. That means your ride home could be a mess, too.
The National Weather Service is also warning of "strong northerly winds," with gusts reaching up to 45 miles per hour Wednesday. While meteorologists are not projecting blizzard conditions outright, they said the storm's unpredictability makes them possible.
"We know there will be some heavy wind, and the snow will be heavy enough to impact visibility, but we just don't know by how much," meteorologist Casey Sullivan said. "The storm is moving in such a way that it's becoming very difficult to track."
In order for a storm to meet the official criteria of a blizzard, Sullivan said, it has to bring sustained winds of more than 35 miles per hour, plus visibility of less than a quarter-mile, for at least three hours.
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The southeastern parts of the city will be the hardest hit by the snow, with the Far South Side seeing the heaviest amount, Deubelbeiss said. But the northern and western parts of the city will get snow, too.
"I wouldn't say it's unusual," Deubelbeiss said of the late-winter snow. "We do get these late-season ... snowstorms every now and then. They can bring some bigger snow totals.
"This is gonna be a real heavy, wet snow."
Though the snowstorm will start in the morning, it will "intensify" in the afternoon and will probably continue overnight into Thursday morning, Deubelbeiss said.
That's an even worse forecast than was originally predicted on Monday, when meteorologists said the city would get hit with 4 inches of snow but it wouldn't start until after the morning commute.
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