Storm could drop 8 inches of blowing, drifting snow across southern Wisconsin on Tuesday

UPDATE: The forecast for Tuesday has changed dramatically since this story was written. We have an updated story here.

As folks across southern Wisconsin basked in warmth and sunshine this weekend, meteorologists threw a cold, wet blanket of a forecast to chill any thoughts that spring can't be far off.

A slow-moving low-pressure system tracking across Illinois could dump as much as 8 inches of snow in the metro Milwaukee area on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

A winter storm watch was issued Sunday to take effect at 6 a.m. Tuesday until 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Though some rain and snow could begin falling late Monday, the forecast calls for a nasty Tuesday.

"The snow will start out on the wet, heavy side, meaning hard to shovel, but as we go into late Tuesday night into Wednesday it will be fluffier. Which means the winds will blow the snow around," Marcia Cronce, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Sullivan, said Sunday afternoon.

Northeast winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts of 35 to 40 mph are forecast for Tuesday. 

That likely will mean both morning and evening commutes will be messy in southern Wisconsin. And with record high water levels on Lake Michigan, it could cause some lakeshore flooding.

Though snow is forecast to fall all day Tuesday, the heaviest is expected Tuesday afternoon and evening. 

Southern Wisconsin will likely bear the brunt because it's northwest of the low-pressure system expected to trudge across southern Illinois, with moisture getting wrapped counterclockwise around the storm, Cronce explained. Plus, colder air on the north side of the storm system will create snow.

Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties might get an added dose of flakes from lake-enhancement snow. Snow is expected to taper off north of Milwaukee, though Sheboygan and Washington counties are in the winter storm watch because of the possibility of communities getting hit by lake-effect snow.

"Interestingly for the Milwaukee area, it will draw a little extra moisture off Lake Michigan because we'll have strong northeast winds," said Cronce. "But the system in general has a lot of moisture associated with it."

No records were broken this weekend. With temperatures in the low 50s, Milwaukee's record high for Sunday of 62 degrees set in 1984 was not endangered. A high-pressure system was responsible for such nice weather.

But that will all change soon.