How fast is the snow going to melt? What are the flooding concerns? We asked the experts.

W. Scott Lincoln, National Weather Service Chicago senior service hydrologist/hydrology program leader: “The rate of snowmelt depends on many different factors, including temperature, dew point, cloud cover, time of year, wind speed. It’s difficult to give an estimate for how quickly the current snowpack can melt, but we would be watching for warmer temperatures, clear skies and windier conditions to get rid of the snow faster. Also, the later in the year we get, the higher the sun angle, so more solar energy to melt snow on clear days. Getting near freezing or a little above freezing will likely cause some slowmelt, but we’d generally be looking for temperatures in the 40s and 50s before melt picks up. A recent example of quick snowmelt was back in March of 2019, when we had a similar amount of snow in northern Illinois, then three days with temperatures in the 40s and 50s occurred, which melted most of it. Also keep in mind that the current snow cover is very cold, in some cases more than 10 (degrees) F below freezing, and the snow cover must warm to the freezing point before it can melt.”