10pm Update: Winter Weather Advisory issued, snow continues overnight

8:30pm Update:

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for a chunk of the viewing area, including Milwaukee and Waukesha counties until 9am tomorrow morning. Here it is: 

As we had anticipated, this west to east band of snow has set up shop and there is growing evidence we could see snowfall rates at 1" per hour for a few hours tonight leaning toward higher end snow totals of 3-5".  Additionally, wind gusts have been in the 20mph range and for a few locations that has driven down visibility to about a mile. Take a look: 

6pm Update:

Snow showers are moving back in this evening. There is the potential for some of the snow to come down at a good clip as disturbances glide over our area tonight. 

Use common sense as you go out and about for your Friday night plans as roads could turn slippery and snow showers reduce visibility out on roads.

As you can see at this time snow showers are moving in south and west of the metro: 

As we continue to see on and off snow showers now through the weekend, several inches of fresh powder is likely:

Thereafter we shift our focus to major cold to start next week as wind chills will drop below -20 Monday morning.

1pm Update:

The snow has stopped and we are quiet!  Anywhere from an inch to almost 4" has been accumulated from last night through the start of this afternoon.  Scattered snow is still expected to return later this evening and continue into the weekend.  

A gusty southwest wind has moved in and temps have returned to above 32 degrees.  Melting is to remain likely until sunset, and any wet spots from melting will freeze over.  Wind gusts will become even stronger with gustier winds by the end of the weekend, cooling us off quite a bit by Monday.

Updated: 10:08 a.m. Jan. 16, 2026

The morning snow is still lingering in some areas, especially along the I-94 corridor and south. Most of the snow is fairly light but there are some moderate pockets here and there. The snow is coming to an end from west to east and then we should see a lull in the snow through the early afternoon before getting some bursts of snow this afternoon and evening. 

Here is a radar image that will update with time:

Snow totals have come in for the first rounds of snow with this long duration storm. The first batch of snow Thursday even only dropped around a half inch in most areas. The snowfall Friday morning was a bit heavier with a lot of spots seeing 1-2" of snowfall. So far snow totals since Thursday evening range from 1-3" for most of southeast Wisconsin.

Additional snowfall the rest of Friday looks pretty light with under an inch expected. If we do see some bursts of snow then that could increase totals in some areas. 

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Posted: 6:39 a.m., Jan. 16, 2026

We are waking up to steady snow on this Friday morning. The second batch of snow is currently moving through after the first one moved in from 7 PM - 12 AM on Thursday. That first batch dropped about a half inch of snow in most communities. The Friday morning steady snow will stay with us through the morning commute causing a slow start to the day on the roads with plenty of crashes.

The round of snow in the morning should wrap up by 10 AM with a lull in the snow activity expected through early afternoon. Then a few bursts of snow will be possible Friday afternoon and evening. There is some concern for snow squalls during that time where visibility drops rapidly causing quickly deteriorating road conditions.

An additional half inch to 2" of snow will be possible through midnight Friday night. Most of that will fall during the steady snow we are seeing Friday morning but any bursts of snow possible in the afternoon and evening could cause highly variable snow totals. 

The intensity of snow will be most impactful Friday morning but any bursts of snow Friday afternoon/evening could cause concerns on the roads. The snow for the weekend on Saturday and Sunday looks fairly light and scattered but could also make roads slippery at times when snow covers the roadways. 

Any snow we see Saturday could result in another 0.5-1.5" of snow and a similar situation on Sunday with up to another inch of snow possible. So, even though snow doesn't look too heavy at any given time, the long duration of the snow over the course of the next three days could result in anywhere from 1-5" of snow across southeast Wisconsin through the weekend. 

Download the CBS 58 Weather app to track the snow all weekend long.