A major snow storm is expected to hit the Northern Illinois region early this week.

According to the NIU weather page, the Northern Illinois region is expected to get 2 to 4 inches of snow starting this afternoon and is expected to last until early Tuesday morning.

According to the website, strong northeast winds of 20 to 30 mph are expected Tuesday evening resulting the possibility of lake effect snow on Wednesday. Wind gusts could get as high is 40 mph.

Due to the high winds and falling snow blizzard conditions are a possibility, the report said. According to the report an excess of a foot and a half could potentially fall over much of Northern Illinois and far Northwest Indiana.

The report cautioned those traveling during Tuesday afternoon and evening due to near white-out conditions.