Another round of snow headed for southern Wisconsin on Friday, forecasters say

Snow is likely across southern Wisconsin on Friday, but how much falls where — and when — remain big questions for forecasters. 

"Bottom line, there's a pretty good shot that everybody (in southern Wisconsin) is going to get in on a steady, moderate, wet snow late Friday afternoon and Friday evening," said Andy Boxell, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Sullivan. 

"It's a pretty good bet that everybody is going to see snow during that time."

But the forecast is far from certain. The storm track could shift and temperatures will be at, above or slightly below freezing as the weather system moves through the region. 

That will affect what type of precipitation falls.

"Friday night and particularly early Saturday, it looks like a lot of the snow will switch over to rain or a mix of rain and snow for a good chunk of the area," Boxell said. "Certainly for Milwaukee, that's fairly likely. 

"If you go up north of Milwaukee, say, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, they may be closer to the line that stays more snow than rain." 

There is little chance of a repeat of last Saturday when a coating of ice made travel treacherous in the Milwaukee area, Boxell said.

"Temperatures on Saturday right now look like they will likely, particularly for Milwaukee, be above freezing for several hours during the day," Boxell said. "It may be enough to make everything a slushy mess on Saturday." 

Before the snow gets here, it will be cold. Normally, that would not be much to talk about, except that we have had a relatively warm winter.

The high temperature in Milwaukee is forecast to be 17 degrees on Thursday, with blustery northwest winds likely sending wind chills ranging from zero in Milwaukee to minus 10 in the suburbs.

"It's one of those situations where if you look at the numbers on paper, it might not seem all that significant," Boxell said. "But it's going to feel pretty cold because we've been relatively warm so far this year compared to usual."   

Once the snow and/or rain move through on Saturday, cold air will again move in to the area.

Longer-term forecasts call for cold and dry conditions for the first part of next week. 

Look for breezy and cold conditions on Sunday and Monday, with wind chills of minus 10 to minus 15 across the region, Boxell said. 

"Unpleasant for sure," but not unprecedented for mid-January, Boxell said. 

Contact Joe Taschler at (414) 224-2554 or jtaschler@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeTaschler or Facebook at facebook.com/joe.taschler.1.