Quick post from the road on this Sunday morning before a more extensive update tonight.
High pressure will build into the Ohio Valley and support a quiet week, overall.
A “pop” of cold air will flow into the state on gusty northerly winds Tuesday night and set-up a cold midweek stretch.
Highs will fall into the 30s Wednesday and Thursday with lows in the upper teens to lower 20s. However, like so many other cold shots over the past 6 weeks, it’s of the “in and out” variety. By late week, southwest winds are developing and helping temperatures moderate going into the weekend.
We should remain dry next weekend before a more significant storm system arrives during early portions of Week 2. With dry conditions, a strengthening southwest flow and strong upper ridge, highs next weekend will approach 65°-70°.
With two weekends in a row of spring-like weather in February we sure have to believe we’ll have to pay for the nice conditions late month into March before true sustained spring conditions can take hold…
Highlights:
Winds will turn strong and gusty out of the southwest this afternoon, noted by the tightly packed isobars (lines of equal pressure) along with considerable mid and high level clouds.
Clouds will lower and thicken Saturday and we may also have to deal with periods of fog, as well. Showers and drizzle will lift into town as the day progresses, especially by afternoon and evening.
We don’t expect heavy rain this weekend. In fact, model data continues to really back off on expected totals. The general consensus is between 0.15″ and 0.25″ across central Indiana.
After a mild Saturday, cooler (but not cold) air will ooze into the Ohio Valley Sunday.
Resurgent cold air will blow into town during the middle and latter portions of the upcoming work week. Highs will return to the 30s with overnight lows in the lower 20s. We’ll likely add scattered snow showers into the mix as well.
However the cold air won’t last and milder times will return by the second half of the weekend. This back and forth “tug of war” type regime will remain as cold and warmth (relative to average) continue to battle over the upcoming couple weeks. The latest European ensemble shows this nicely.
This also favors a rather active pattern and confidence is high on a wetter than average period upcoming over the next couple weeks. See the GFS ensembles support this idea. A couple strong storms are also possible Tuesday.
Unfortunately for snow lovers, the majority of significant moisture should fall as rain. Best snow chances appear to come with “backlash” wrap around snow showers and squalls Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Accumulating snow is possible, but most amounts should be light. We’ll keep an eye on it.
Longer-term, the fight continues deeper into the month. As 
2.) What at one time looked to be a significant weekend storm now may not even deliver any precipitation at all to the region. A flurry is possible, but most should remain precipitation-free this weekend. Expect a gusty southwest wind developing SB Sunday. Highs around freezing Saturday will zoom into the middle 40s Sunday. Lows Saturday morning in the middle 10s will rise into the upper 20s to around 30 Sunday morning.
3.) A more significant storm system will cut for the Great Lakes early next week and this will deliver gusty showers and embedded thunderstorms. A couple of stronger storms aren’t out of the question. Locally heavy rains can be expected, including amounts of 1″-1.5″ (locally heavier totals).
4.) Cold air will rush back into the region behind the storm and snow showers and squalls are likely by Wednesday.
5.) Longer-term, a real fight is developing on the overall direction we’re heading as February evolves. Analog methods and teleconnections (shown below) would yield bullish cold signals and give hope to winter enthusiasts. However, modeling isn’t in agreement on the wintry ideas. In fact, some modeling is very spring-like as mid-Feb nears. Stay tuned as we try and iron out the details this weekend. Updates will come.