Friday’s clear skies permit a clear view of the snow covered ground from Iowa into Wisconsin produced by Thursday’s storm system.

It was tough going for travelers from far northwest Illinois in the Galena Territory and the area in and around Dubuque northeast to the Madison, WI area Thursday. As much as 9″ of snow fell in the hardest hit locations in that territory–and the clear skies Friday permit us revealing views of the the snow covered ground to Chicago’s north and west. You see the newly deposited snow on these GOES EAST weather satellite images.

Check out the photos of the snow provided by my WGN colleague Ray Cortopassi who has relayed the photo I’ve posted below from his brother Scott who lives in Madison, WI. And from the Galena Territory come shots of the challenging road conditions Thursday which have been sent to me by Sean Coulter. Thanks Ray, Scott and Sean!!

The storm system responsible was a classic winter system, displayed the classic comma-shaped cloud pattern. We sat beneath the front left region of a jet stream wind max–meteorologists refer to such wind maxima as “jet streaks”–a region of the atmosphere in which the air is lifted and cooled to saturation. That’s a region of prolific precipitation production and helps explain the heavy rainfall we experienced across the Chicago area Thursday.

Here’s a list of some of the heavier snowfalls (areas reporting 4″or more) in and near the locations listed below (some incomplete because they were relayed Thursday afternoon before snowfall had ended–but an indication of the areas which experienced snow accumulation)–filed Thursday afternoon and evening and communicated by National Weather Service offices in Madison, La Crosse and Milwaukee:

• 9″ Kieler, WI
• 8″ Dane, WI
• 8″ Lodi, WI
• 8″ Hazel Green, WI
• 7.8″ Dodgeville, WI
• 7″ Sun Prairie, WI
• 6.8″ Verona, WI
• 6.6″ Mount Horeb, WI
• 6.5″ Sinsinawa, WI
• 6.3″ Madison, WI
• 6″ Middleton, WI
• 6″ Cuba City, WI
• 5.7″ Pardeeville, WI
• 5″ Lancaster, WI
• 4″ Iron Ridge, WI

From my WGN meteorological colleague Mark Carroll comes this table of heavier Chicago and surrounding area rainfalls the past two days:

• Chicago 5.5 ESE 1.28
• Burr Ridge 1.9 SW 1.28
• Oak Lawn 0.5 SSW 1.26
• Crete 2.6 E 1.24
• Joliet 2.9 WNW 1.21
• Minooka 0.3 NE 1.15
• Joliet 0.7 WNW 1.15
• Palos Park 1.3 SW 1.14
• Oak Lawn 1.6 WNW 1.12
• Plainfield 3.9 SSW 1.12
• Plainfield 4.8 SW 1.11
• Oak Lawn 1.9 SE 1.10
• Bloomingdale 1.2 ESE 1.10
• Oak Park 1.3 NNE 1.09
• Bridgeview 1.3 NNW 1.08
• Harwood Heights 0.4 NNE 1.08
• Oak Forest 0.6 N 1.08
• Naperville 2.4 SE 1.08
• Homer Glen 0.7 NNE 1.08
• La Grange Park 0.7 SSW 1.07
• Naperville 2.8 SSW 1.07
• Rogers Park 1.5 SW 1.06
• Franklin Park 0.5 SSE 1.06
• Chicago 6.8 NW 1.05
• Aurora 3.5 ESE 1.05
• Naperville 4.0 SSW 1.05
• Clarendon Hills 0.5 NW 1.03
• North Aurora 1.5 NE 1.03
• Lincolnwood 1.8 E 1.02
• Evanston 0.9 S 1.02
• Wheaton 0.8 WNW 1.02
• Plainfield 1.7 WNW 1.02
• Midlothian 0.1 SSE 1.01
• Villa Park 0.8 ESE 1.01
• Aurora 3.8 SE 1.00
• West Chicago 3.5 SE 1.00
• Aurora 2.8 WSW 1.00
• Channahon 2.5 SSE 1.00
• Aurora 3.6 SE 0.99
• Maple Park 3.9 S 0.99
• Mokena 1.3 W 0.99
• Capron 0.1 N 0.98
• Chicago Ridge 0.2 WSW 0.98
• Geneva 1.0 SSW 0.98
• Geneva 1.3 SSW 0.98
• Naperville 3.6 SE 0.98
• Morton Grove 1.2 WNW 0.97
• Merrionette Park 1.7 NE 0.97
• Chicago 5.5 NNW 0.97
• Elmhurst 0.4 SW 0.97
• Mokena 3.4 WNW 0.96
• Sugar Grove 0.7 NE 0.95
• Oswego 1.1 ESE 0.95
• Bannockburn 0.5 ESE 0.94
• Peotone 0.4 ENE 0.94
• New Lenox 1.8 SE 0.94
• New Lenox 2.1 S 0.94
• Homewood 0.1 ESE 0.93
• Westmont 0.4 NE 0.93
• Montgomery 0.8 SSE 0.93
• New Lenox 3.3 E 0.93
• Manhattan 1.9 SE 0.93
• Mount Prospect 0.2 NNE 0.92
• Wheaton 2.0 NNE 0.92
• Glen Ellyn 1.1 WSW 0.92
• Carbon Hill 3.1 N 0.92
• Plano 1.6 NW 0.92
• New Lenox 2.0 ESE 0.92
• Lombard 1.0 NNW 0.91
• Geneva 0.9 E 0.91
• Batavia 0.8 W 0.91
• Henry 1.4 SW 0.91
• Kankakee 1.4 WSW 0.90
• Bult Field-Monee 4.9 SE 0.90