CHICAGO (CBS) — In case you’ve forgotten, it’s February, and Mother Nature will be reminding you by dropping up to 6 inches of snow on the Chicago area on Friday.

A cold front swooping down from the north will blow over the waters of Lake Michigan Friday, causing a band of lake effect snow to develop. A lake effect snow watch will be effect for Cook and Will counties in Illinois, and Lake and Porter counties in Indiana, from Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon.

CBS 2 Meteorologist Megan Glaros says the snow will start Friday afternoon in Cook County, and then the system will work its way counterclockwise to the southern rim of Lake Michigan and Northwest Indiana by Saturday afternoon.

Some areas from the city of Chicago southeast to Porter County could see as much as 6 inches of snow. But it is not clear where exactly the greatest amounts of snow will fall until the lake effect snow machine gets started.

For Thursday, conditions will remain clear and relatively mild. The high for the day is 38 with sunny skies.

But the high drops to 32 as the snow falls on Friday. For Saturday, the high is a wintry 26, and for Sunday 29.