Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Whiting, IN

DISCUSSION
Issued at 322 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026

Through Friday night:

We have opted to upgrade the High Wind Watch to a warning for tonight and Friday. In additional to the watch area, we have also opted to include northwestern parts of IL, including the Rockford region. A Wind Advisory remains in effect farther south across central IL.

Confidence continues to increase that wind gusts will peak up around (or even a bit above) 60 mph very late tonight into Friday morning across the warned area, owing to the strength of the low shifting into the Upper Great Lakes on Friday. A strong southerly mass response will materialize across the region through this evening and overnight as an impressive 70+ kt southwesterly low- level jet develops. While we will not see wind gusts to this magnitude at the surface, strong surface pressure falls (on the order of ~18 mb per 6hr) overspreading the western Great Lakes in advance of the approaching surface low will support increasingly gusty surface winds through the night. Accordingly, we expect southwesterly wind gusts to increase into the 45 to 50 mph range after midnight tonight. Then, as the surface front moves across the area into the predawn hours of Friday morning, winds will become westerly with the cold frontal passage. Wind speeds will peak in the 55 to 60 mph range across the warned area directly in the wake of the front early Friday morning. Strong gusty west winds will persist into the afternoon, but speeds should gradually settle in the 45 to 50 mph range late in the morning and afternoon. Wind gusts will then quickly abate with sunset Friday evening as a progressive area of surface high pressure shifts east across the area into early Saturday.

In addition to the strong winds, an area of showers is also expected to develop for a period tonight along the nose of the increasing low-level jet. The greatest chances for these (up to ~80%) continue to be across far northern IL into northwestern IN from mid evening through early Friday morning (~9 pm through 3 am).

KJB

Saturday through Thursday:

A west-northwest flow pattern will develop across much of the northern CONUS and Great Lakes on Saturday. A modest mid-level shortwave trough is expected to dive across northern IL and northwest IN and interact with a stalled baroclinic zone. While low- level moisture looks to be a bit of a limiting factor, mid- level moisture will be sufficient to support a couple of light showers on Saturday (20-30% chance). With temperatures aloft forecast to be below freezing and most of the moisture residing in the snow growth region, it appears that any precipitation on Saturday would fall as snow though some rain/snow mix is possible especially during the afternoon hours. Regardless, surface temperatures are forecast to warm into the upper 30s and lower 40s so little to no accumulation is expected.

Heading into Saturday night, a deepening trough is expected to begin digging into the central Plains which will lead to the development of a strong surface low on the leeward side of the Rockies that will then lift into northern IL and the Great Lakes on Sunday. As the low develops the aforementioned baroclinic zone is forecast to lift north as a warm front Saturday night.
While there is some uncertainty as to how far north the front will get, the general consensus is for the front to stall near the IL-WI line which would place most of northern IL and northwest IN in the warm sector. Therefore, as the surface low lifts towards the area the strong warm advection ahead of it will likely lead to the development of scattered showers and thunderstorms on Sunday, especially along and south of I-80.
Given that forecast soundings don't show much instability (warm air aloft likely causing a modest cap) thunder coverage will likely be some what limited, but with the strong dynamics of the system and the 40-50 kts of shear present a few strong to possibly severe storms cannot be ruled out Sunday afternoon.

As the low moves into the Great Lakes Sunday evening it will drag a strong cold front through northern IL and northwest IN Sunday night into Monday. With temperatures forecast to quickly cool Sunday night behind the front the rain on Sunday will quickly transition over to snow by Monday morning. In fact, there is even a chance (10-20%) chance for a period of freezing rain and/or sleet Sunday night as temperatures cool but with uncertainties in how fast temperatures cool, especially aloft, have opted to keep a rain/snow mention in the forecast for now.
Once snow begins it is expected to prevail through the day on Monday which will likely result in snow accumulations as temperatures will be in the 20s through the day. That said, there is a lot of uncertainty as to how much snow will fall due to differences in where the deformation band on the back of the low will develop and how deep the low will be, but latest ensemble probabilities do have a good portion of northern IL with at 50-60% chance of at least 2 inches of snow. Regardless of how much snow falls, winds behind this system will be quite strong with 35- 40+ mph gusts likely Sunday night through Monday. Thus blowing snow is expected to develop on Monday which will likely result in hazardous travel conditions due to reduced visibility and snow covered roads even with lesser accumulations.

The system and its associated snow will begin to shift east Monday evening, but the pattern aloft will remain locked in a northwest flow regime through the end of the week. This flow regime will result in notably colder temperatures through the early part of next week especially on Tuesday where highs are forecast to be in the 20s. Additionally, this pattern will also put in a favorable spot for clipper systems to brush the area and bring us more chances for precipitation at times. While the first of these periods of precipitation looks to be late Tuesday into Wednesday, there is uncertainty of location and impacts so stay tuned.

Yack

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY/
Issued at 1242 PM CDT Thu Mar 12 2026

Aviation forecast concerns for the 18Z TAFs:

- Period of very strong winds late tonight and Friday, with gusts around 50 kt possible.

- Showers late this evening/overnight.

A fast-moving, deepening clipper system will result in an area of deep surface low pressure moving across WI/LM late tonight into Friday. Tightening of the surface pressure gradient later this evening will result in south-southwest winds increasing with gusts around 35 kt overnight. A cold front trailing from the low will move through the terminals toward daybreak Friday, and winds will shift to the west and further increase with sustained speeds near 30 kts and gusts around 50 kts. The strongest winds will persist Friday morning, before very slowly easing and turning slightly more west-northwest Friday afternoon. Current expectations are for gusts to eventually decrease below 40 kts by mid-afternoon (KRFD) and late afternoon (Chicago terminals).

Otherwise, mid-level VFR cloud cover will increase later this afternoon and evening. Scattered showers are likely ahead of the cold front from mid-late evening, ending with the cold frontal passage. Some patchy MVFR cloud bases are possible with the showers, though VFR conditions are generally expected to prevail.

Ratzer

LOT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
IL...High Wind Warning from 1 AM to 4 PM CDT Friday for ILZ003- ILZ004-ILZ005-ILZ006-ILZ008-ILZ010-ILZ011-ILZ012-ILZ013- ILZ019-ILZ020-ILZ021-ILZ023-ILZ103-ILZ104-ILZ105-ILZ106- ILZ107-ILZ108.

Wind Advisory from 1 AM to 6 PM CDT Friday for ILZ032-ILZ033- ILZ039.

IN...High Wind Warning from 1 AM to 4 PM CDT Friday for INZ001- INZ002-INZ010-INZ011.

Wind Advisory from 2 AM to 7 PM EDT Friday for INZ019.

LM...Gale Warning from 10 PM this evening to 4 AM CDT Friday for the IL and IN nearshore waters.

Gale Warning from 4 PM to 10 PM CDT Friday for the IL and IN nearshore waters.

Storm Warning from 4 AM to 4 PM CDT Friday for the IL and IN nearshore waters.