Category: Blowing/ Drifting

Feb 19

All-Access Client Brief: Plowable Snow Moves In Overnight…

Brief: Heavy Snow & Sleet

Forecaster: McMillan

What: Heavy Snow & Sleet

When: 12a to 8a Wednesday

Temperatures: Upper 20s to lower 30s

Wind: E 15-25 MPH

Blowing/ Drifting: Moderate before mixing with sleet

The setup remains the same as a warm front lifts north during the overnight. Copious amounts of moisture will arrive into central Indiana and with cold air in place, a period of moderate to heavy snow will develop. Timing into the city, itself, should come around, or just before, midnight. While the snow will be of the heavy, wet variety, gusty easterly winds will result in blowing and drifting snow (especially on north-south roadways) before precipitation transitions to sleet. We’ve “beefed” our accumulation forecast up to include a 3″ to 5″ band across east-central Indiana, including Indianapolis, as short-term guidance is indicating a period of significant “forcing” (or lift in the atmosphere) that will lead to heavy snowfall rates before the transition to sleet. A couple of hours with snowfall rates in excess of 1″ per hour will likely be observed in that 1a to 3a window. Precipitation will transition to sleet and a period of freezing rain between 3a and 5a from south to north, before turning to all rain in the city before sunrise. Further north, a transition to rain won’t be noticed until after 8a, but the majority of precipitation will likely be over with by that point (just lingering drizzle and fog).

Confidence: High

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/all-access-client-brief-plowable-snow-moves-in-overnight/

Jan 25

Accumulating Snow Impacts Central Indiana Saturday…

Light snow is flying across central Indiana this evening, but “light” is the key word here. For most, a dusting is all we’ll muster with this initial wave of energy.

As we move into the first half of the weekend, a more vigorous disturbance will track across the region. We’ll notice snow breaking out across southwest Indiana around lunchtime before the area of snow grows in overall coverage and intensity through the afternoon into the evening hours.

With a cold surface and temperatures in the mid to upper 20s as the snow falls, expect slick roadways across the region Saturday afternoon into the evening. While winds aren’t expected to be particularly strong, the “open country” may experience a few issues with blowing and drifting snow due to the dry, powdery nature.

Most of central Indiana, including Indianapolis, can anticipate 1″ to 2″ of snow with this event Saturday, but there will likely be a couple of 2″+ reports. Snow will diminish from southwest to northeast after midnight.

Attention will then shift to additional snow and severe cold early next week… More on that in the AM.

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/accumulating-snow-impacts-central-indiana-saturday/

Jan 20

Thank You And Looking Ahead To Another Busy Week Of Winter Weather…

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Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/thank-you-and-looking-ahead-to-another-busy-week-of-winter-weather/

Jan 19

VIDEO: Saturday Night Winter Storm Update…

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Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/video-saturday-night-winter-storm-update/

Jan 19

Blizzard-Like Conditions Develop This Afternoon Into Tonight…

While warm air advection (WAA) created an added challenge this morning (freezing rain north of the city, itself, and rain south of I-70), colder air is working south late this morning and will result in a changeover from freezing rain/ rain to snow over the next couple hours from north to south.

We expect the transition to snow to take place in and around Indianapolis between 1p and 2p.

As upper level energy tracks northeast this evening, strong frontogenesis will help a “deformation band” expand in coverage and intensify across the state.  This will lead to elevated snowfall intensity as the afternoon gives way to evening.  In fact, snowfall rates will likely approach 1″/ hour across central and eastern portions of the state at times during the mid-to-late afternoon and into the evening hours.

8p forecast radar.

As this is taking shape, winds will also begin to crank this afternoon and evening.  Gusts in excess of 50 MPH are expected across central and eastern regions- including Indianapolis.

Obviously this will create concerns for power outages, but the other major worry is for developing blizzard-like conditions and whiteouts through the late afternoon into tonight.

As for snowfall totals, the consensus of latest 12z data continues to support our updated snowfall forecast from this morning.

We’ll have additional updates later this afternoon here on IndyWx.com and on our social media accounts.

To close, we highly encourage not traveling this afternoon.  Conditions are expected to rapidly deteriorate as we move through the next several hours. For many across central and east-central Indiana, roads will likely become impassable by evening with the combination of severe wind gusts and increasing snowfall rates.  Major problems from blowing and drifting snow are expected.

More here in a bit!  Stay safe!

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/blizzard-like-conditions-develop-this-afternoon-into-tonight/