On January 5th parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky saw an ice storm hit the region. About a quarter of an inch of ice blanketed parts of southern Illinois following the storm.
Justin Gibbs, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Paducah, says this weather itself isn't that odd for the area, two big storms being this close together is.
"Usually for the whole year we end up with about twelve inches of snow on average," Gibbs says. "It's not unusual for us to get all of it in a couple of storms, where we get one big snow, but this has been a pretty active period."
Temperatures are below normal around this time of year too. Gibbs says that while January is normally the snowiest and coldest time of year, it's snowier and colder than normal.
Snow was initially projected to be a large part of the recent ice storm too. Much of the southern Illinois region didn't see lots of snow, mostly getting the ice from the storm.
Gibbs says this is because of changing temperatures in the region, followed by the freezing rain. Winter weather isn't the easiest to nail down because of the constantly changing measures.
"It can be very tricky trying to absolutely nail down winter weather forecasts because there's so much at play. From the surface all the way up to 30 and 40 thousand feet, and so little of it we can actually measure," Gibbs says.
This isn't the last of the winter weather the region will see either, with a winter storm warning in effect residents should expect snow this Friday. The southern Illinois region is projected to get anywhere from three to six inches of snow in this upcoming system.
Gibbs says that after this weekend snow storm residents can expect little precipitation in the next seven days, but temperatures will stay cool in the mid 30s to low 20s slightly below normal for the area.
With impending snow, on top of the large amounts of ice in the region, there are steps residents can take to be prepared. Gibbs says the first thing people can do is stay informed.
"Probably the first line of defense is to stay informed as to what's happening, keep up with our forecasts and warnings," Gibbs says.
He also suggests limiting you travel during this time, while there will be work to plow roads, it's best to stay at home if you don't have to go anywhere.
If you power does go out due to storm, Gibbs doesn't suggest the use of generators inside because of the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning.
To stay updated on forecasts and warnings, visit weather.gov/pah/
