Great Lakes area braces for heavy snow, strong winds

The Coast Guard is urging people to be cautious if they venture out to the Lake Michigan shoreline to catch large wave action during Wednesday night’s storm.

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Forecasts now call for 8-12 inches of snow across most of Lower Michigan.

A mix of rain and snow spread into southern portions of the Chicago area early Wednesday, changing over to a heavy, wet snow as the precipitation continued to spread over the area.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Lapeer County until 11 a.m. Thursday.

Meantime, a winter storm warning was in effect for Cook and Will counties, and a winter weather advisory was in effect for DuPage, Lake, and Grundy counties.

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Ground travel in the Midwest will be hard thanks to the accumulations of snow and ice, but flying won’t be much better. The storm is expected to intensify later Wednesday and leave the highest snow amounts in the state’s Thumb region.

Drivers were warned that there could be no visibility at times on the state’s roadways. But the heaviest snow was expected to hit northern IN, where powerful winds blowing off of Lake Michigan could keep snow piling up past midnight and bury the area IN up to 18 inches. The service has also issued storm warnings across the state, cautioning difficulties with traveling, potential power outages, and potential school or event closures spanning from Wednesday to Thursday. Blizzard warnings were in effect from north of Vandalia to Champaign and north to Kankakee.

The snow will develop along the Michigan-Indiana state line during the morning and will spread to the north and northwest.

Ameren reported more than 36,000 customers without power in IL as of 1 p.m. local time.

Strong winds will continue to lead to whiteout conditions in spots with gusts to almost 40-45 miles per hour Wednesday evening.

A Winter Storm Warning for heavy snow means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring.