A salt spreader treats a side street in Homewood Tuesday afternoon as the area received its first measurable snow of the season. The wet snow made streets slick and travel slow. (Paul Eisenberg / Daily Southtown)

       The Chicago area will get its first blast of hard-core winter to greet the new year, with up to eight inches of snow on New Year’s Day, forecasters said, creating hazardous travel conditions.

       The city will have a bull’s eye over it, caught between a winter storm sweeping in from the southwest, and a northeasterly wind blasting from Lake Michigan, creating a lake effect snow machine of up to one inch per hour.

       “Winter has finally arrived,” weather service meteorologist Brett Borchardt said. “We knew it was going to happen at some point.”

       Precipitation will likely start as rain south of the city Saturday morning, before changing over to a wet, heavy snow by late morning, he said. A swath of four to eight inches of accumulation is likely from west of the city, south to Kankakee, and north to the Wisconsin border, with lesser amounts to the north and south.

       Forecasters advised avoiding travel during the most intense snowfall, from about noon to 8 p.m. Saturday. Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour, strongest near Lake Michigan, could create near-blizzard-like poor visibility, with blowing and drifting snow.

       After a warmer than usual Friday, with an expected high near 49 degrees, temperatures were then expected to drop to 19 overnight, before reaching a high of 38 Saturday. But then temperatures could plunge, falling into the teens or single digits by Sunday morning. Wind chills may hit 5 to 10 degrees below zero Sunday night, before rebounding to a more normal range Monday and Tuesday.

       “For anyone waiting at a bus stop or outside Monday morning, it’s important to dress in layers and limit your time outside,” Borchardt said.

       For those alarmed by the late arrival of snow in Chicago this winter, fear not. More chances for snow are expected next week by Wednesday or Thursday.

       “We’re settling back into a more typical pattern for Chicago,” Borchardt said.

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