CHICAGO — A Winter Storm Warning begins at noon Friday and continues through 10 p.m. for all of northwest Indiana, Kankakee, and eastern Will Counties.

A Winter Weather Advisory is in place for central and southern Cook, DuPage, central and western Will, Kendall, and Grundy Counties. The brunt of this storm affects northern Indiana — not our area. 

Rain and a mix of rain/snow moves in from the south is expected by the late morning and through the rest of the afternoon, changing over to a slushy, wet snow by the midday hours.

Northwest Indiana looks to see the heaviest snow rates and highest snow totals, with areas through Porter, Jasper, and Newton seeing the potential for 4-8” of snow, wind gusts at 45-50mph, and low visibility. This would be a heavy, wet snow.

As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, Lake County, Indiana remains under a travel watch, meaning only essential travel is advised.

Porter, Newton, Jasper, and La Porte counties remain under a travel advisory, meaning routine travel may be restricted in some areas due to road conditions.

There will likely be a razor sharp cutoff in snow totals, possibly though Lake County, Indiana and into Kankakee and eastern Will County.

The Warning for Kankakee and Will County is in place, mainly on the eastern fringe, in case that heavy band sets up a little further west, but most projections bullseye northwest Indiana. The worst conditions look to happen between 3 p.m. — 7 p.m. 

The Winter Weather Advisory is more of an impact-based warning. High winds with snow falling may lead to reduced visibility, though general snow totals only top out around an inch or two at best.

Little to no accumulation or even precipitation happening far west and northwest Friday. There’s a chance that the rain/snow doesn’t make it north of I90. So minimal impacts expected in Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois.

Things clear out in NW Indiana by 8-10 p.m. and we remain dry overnight.

Warmer conditions are expected this weekend with partly sunny to mostly cloudy skies and highs in the mid to upper 40s.