The National Weather Service in Lincoln reports that a new winter weather system is headed for central Illinois. A trough of low pressure is expected to move out of the western plains states,moving into Missouri and western Illinois on Friday. The result will be precipitation developing over Missouri on Friday, and moving into western Illinois on Friday afternoon. The precipitation will spread east over all of central Illinois Friday night, and gradually moving east and clearing Illinois by late on Saturday.

The precipitation may start out briefly as a mixture of snow and sleet on Friday afternoon over central Illinois. It should quickly change to snow over all of central and northern Illinois, but remain a mixture of freezing rain, sleet, and snow over the southeast portions of Illinois into the evening, then changing over to all snow. Snowfall amounts over central and southeast Illinois are expected to be generally between 2 and 4 inches before it tapers off later on Saturday.

Residents should be prepared for changing weather conditions Friday afternoon into Saturday.