Category: Unseasonably Cool Weather

Quiet Weekend Gives Way To An Active Work Week…

Highlights:

  • Nice weekend
  • Rain returns Sunday night-Monday
  • Strong storm potential Wednesday PM
  • Cold close to the week

Sunshine Should Make An Appearance Today…The weekend is opening chilly, including wind chills around freezing this morning.  Hang in there- sunshine should at least make an appearance later on this afternoon and Sunday certainly looks to be a brighter day, overall, before clouds increase late and give way to showers overnight into Monday morning.

We’re back to sunshine Tuesday before a stronger storm begins to impact the state Wednesday.  A rather robust area of low pressure will track into the Great Lakes region Wednesday night and help pull a briefly warmer, increasingly moist air mass into the area.  Potential is present for strong to severe thunderstorms Wednesday evening into the nighttime.  We’ll then transition to a much cooler regime to close the week and with low pressure slowly pivoting through the Ohio Valley, showers will continue Thursday into Friday.  In fact, the air may grow cold enough to allow for a few wet snowflakes to mix with the rain by Friday morning.

Upcoming 7-Day Precipitation Forecast:

  • Snowfall: 0.00″
  • Rainfall: 1.75″ – 2.25″

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/quiet-weekend-gives-way-to-an-active-work-week/

Active Times In The Forecast Office…

Highlights:

  • Wet, chilly close to the work week
  • Dry weekend
  • Couple storms and turning colder late next week

Busy Weather Pattern Continues…An area of low pressure is swirling overhead this morning and will help promote periods of showers into the early afternoon before drier air begins to push in.  Perhaps the bigger story will be falling daytime temperatures.  By the evening rush, most neighborhoods should be deep into the 40s with a gusty northerly breeze at times.

We still forecast a dry weekend as high pressure builds in.  Early fog and clouds will be slow to give way to sunshine Saturday, but by afternoon and evening we should see some breaks in the cloud cover.  We’ll label Saturday as “mostly cloudy” before more in the way of sunshine works in for the second half of the weekend.

The dry times won’t last, unfortunately, and another storm system promises showers and thunderstorms as early as Monday.  This will then be followed by a bigger storm the middle of the week that will, once again, lead to widespread showers and thunderstorms.  The other point we want to drive home for late next week will be an increasingly chilly regime.  Temperatures will fall Thursday and even though it’s beyond the current forecast period, sub-freezing lows are a good bet next weekend.

Upcoming 7-Day Precipitation Forecast:

  • Snowfall: 0.00″
  • Rainfall: 2.00″ – 2.50″

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/active-times-in-the-forecast-office/

Thursday Morning Rambles…

1.)  Morning showers and thunderstorms continue to impact north-central Indiana this morning and given the look to downstream trends on radar and satellite, it would seem like it’s going to be tough to get into any sort of significant sunshine this afternoon. This is great news as it’ll limit severe potential.  That said, we still can’t rule out a severe thunderstorm this evening with large hail and damaging straight line winds of greatest concern.  The updated (9a eastern) outlook from the Storm Prediction Center continues the “enhanced risk” for the southern half of Indiana.

2.)  We bracket the hours of 2p-8p (couple hours earlier from yesterday’s thinking) as the period of potential most widespread strong to severe thunderstorms across central Indiana, and the HRRR forecast radar shows what the radar may look like this evening. Have a means of getting the latest warnings.

3.)  Scattered showers will continue into Friday morning before drier air arrives during the evening hours.

4.)  This drier trend Friday PM is one that will continue into the weekend.  High pressure will supply mostly dry weather through the entire weekend (small shower chances return Sunday evening), including sunshine.

5.)  Another active period of weather awaits next week, including multiple rain chances early and late week.  The latter storm looks to be the bigger event with heavy rain and thunderstorm potential Wednesday into Thursday.  7-day rain numbers check in between 1.5″-2″ with locally heavier amounts.

6.)  The story becomes a chilly one next weekend, and models suggest central Indiana may be dealing with frost and freeze conditions by next Saturday or Sunday morning.

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/thursday-morning-rambles-2/

Looking Ahead Into Early April…

Month-to-date, Indianapolis is running near seasonal norms from a temperature standpoint (0.50° above normal).  Chill has dominated the northern tier and eastern third of the country.

Precipitation is running above normal, locally, to the tune of nearly 1″ month-to-date.  Heaviest rains have fallen across southeastern Indiana over the past (30) days.

A look at precipitation anomalies across the mid west, month-to-date:

As we progress through the upcoming (10) days, a transient weather pattern will persist.  This will keep forecasters busy, but it should also be stressed it’s not all a “doom and gloom” type pattern, either.  There will be plenty of dry time over the upcoming period, including drier conditions building in tomorrow (Tuesday) into a good chunk of Wednesday.

By Wednesday night/ Thursday morning, shower chances will begin to increase and that will set the stage for a wet close to the work week as numerous showers and embedded thunder move across the region Thursday into Friday.  This is courtesy of a storm system “bowling” through to our south.  This won’t be a severe weather maker for our neck of the woods, but will serve to create a rather damp and gloomy regime during the aforementioned period.

However, timing is our friend this go around as upper ridging develops over the upcoming weekend.  Not only will we dry out, but we’ll also enjoy increasing sunshine as the weekend progresses.

That said, looking further down the pipe line, another (potentially more significant) storm system looms during the 8-10 day period.  This would fall in the April 3rd-4th time frame.  From this distance, models are bullish on hefty rainfall totals with this storm system and we’ll keep a close eye on things as time draws closer.

Speaking of April, our overall thoughts for the fourth month of the year (where does time go?) would imply a warmer than average month and active (wetter than average).  Relative to average, we feel we still may have some chill to traverse early month, but there’s also some indication we could bust into an early summer-like feel mid and late month.  With the mean trough position west and ridging east, we’ll have to also be mindful for the potential of an active severe weather month- especially mid and late month.  Overall, the CanSIPS idea below is one we would agree with from a mean 500mb perspective.

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/looking-ahead-into-early-april/

Turning Warmer, But Unsettled…

Highlights:

  • Another cold morning
  • Turning unsettled
  • Warmer heading into early next week

Warmer, But Rain Chances Return…Before we enjoy the warmer temperatures to close the week, we have one more very cold morning to go through.  Many central Indiana neighborhoods are once again starting the day in the mid to upper 20s.  Though we’ll add more clouds to our Thursday forecast (compared to all of that Wednesday sunshine), it won’t prevent temperatures from moderating close to seasonal levels later this afternoon.

Though we’ll mention a quick passing shower chance Friday, most of the day should be dry and the bigger story will actually be temperatures that approach 70° by the afternoon with periods of sunshine.  Sounds like a recipe for getting out of the office early and finding a local patio, huh?!

Unfortunately, shower chances will be on the uptick this weekend and while it won’t rain the entire time, really any time of the weekend is fair game for the potential of a shower or perhaps a thunderstorm.  As of now, best shower coverage should be Sunday.

Shower and thunderstorms chances continue early next week (Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning) before drier air and slightly cooler temperatures return the middle of next week.

Upcoming 7-Day Precipitation Forecast:

  • Snowfall: 0.00″
  • Rainfall: 1.00″ – 1.50″

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/turning-warmer-but-unsettled/