Category Archives: Windy

02.15.21 Weather Bulletin: Hunker Down…

Updated 02.15.21 @ 7:20a

Be At Your Destination By Early Afternoon…Light snow continues to fall across the region this morning, but conditions will deteriorate rapidly as we move just beyond the lunchtime hour. Snowfall will become heavy and accumulate to the tune of 1″ to 2″ per hour this afternoon and tonight. By Tuesday morning, we expect many central Indiana communities to be closing in on a foot, and drifts in the open country will exceed 3 feet in spots. We highly discourage travel today if at all possible. If you have to travel this afternoon and evening, please ensure you have a winter storm survival kit packed as many roadways will become impassable due to a combination of very heavy snow and increasing wind. Speaking of wind, northeasterly gusts will top 35 MPH this evening, leading to severe drifting. Our snowfall forecast remains unchanged from yesterday.

Clean up from storm 1 should begin Tuesday morning as another winter storm has eyes on the region Wednesday night through Thursday. Despite a few lingering light snow showers Tuesday morning, a period of quieter conditions will develop for about 24 hours from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday afternoon. Though it’ll still be much colder than normal, sunshine will return.

Our next storm system will come roaring out of the northwest Gulf Wednesday night, tracking northeast, up along the western slope of the Appalachians Thursday into Thursday night. You know the drill: this is a favorable track for another heavy snow storm and we expect adding several more inches onto our growing snowpack during this time frame. Stay tuned as we issue our snowfall forecast for Storm #2 later today.

Looking further ahead, it finally looks like we’ll climb out of the deep freeze by the 2nd half of the weekend. The problem? Another storm system will be approaching with snow and/ or a wintry mix.

No Comments Arctic Cold, Blowing/ Drifting, Client, Forecast Discussion, Forecast Models, Heavy Snow, Unseasonably Cool Weather, Windy, Winter Storm, Wintry Mix

VIDEO: Roadways Become Impassable Tomorrow Evening From Combo Of Heavy Snow/ Severe Drifting; ANOTHER Strong Winter Storm Inbound Midweek…

Updated 02.14.21 @ 10p

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No Comments Arctic Cold, Blowing/ Drifting, Client, Forecast Discussion, Forecast Models, Heavy Snow, Severe Weather, Unseasonably Cool Weather, Weather Videos, Windy, Winter Storm

Client Brief: Snow Builds In Overnight; Becomes Heavy Monday Afternoon Into Monday Night…

Updated 02.14.21 @ 12:29p

Type: Severe Wintry Weather

What: Heavy snow & strong winds

When: Monday morning – Tuesday morning

Temperatures: 16° to 21°

Wind: NE 15 – 25 MPH (gusts up to 35 MPH Monday evening)

Blowing/ Drifting: Severe  

Pavement Impacts: Plowing and salting will be required

Summary: Light snow will overspread central Indiana during the overnight, continuing through Monday morning. As the surface low moves northeast (up the Appalachian chain), snowfall rates will increase Monday afternoon into Monday night, becoming heavy at times. The cold nature of this storm system will lead to an efficient snow producer, including rates that will likely top 1″ per hour at times Monday afternoon into Monday evening. As the low moves closer, the pressure gradient will tighten and lead to strengthening northeast wind gusts (up to 35 MPH) for a period of time after sunset into the late evening hours. Travel is highly discouraged tomorrow, especially by afternoon and evening as the combination of heavy snow and strong winds will likely lead to some roadways becoming impassable. Drifts in the open country will likely reach 3 to 4 feet by Tuesday morning. Snow will end from southwest to northeast Tuesday morning.

*Our other products issued later tonight will handle the expected additional significant impacts with Storm #2.

Confidence: High

Next Update: Tonight (video)

No Comments Arctic Cold, Blowing/ Drifting, Client, ClientBrief, Heavy Snow, Windy, Winter Storm

02.03.21 Weather Bulletin: Keeping A Watchful Eye On The Weekend…

Updated 02.03.21 @ 8:19a

Best Day Of The Week…We can’t get too picky this time of year in the weather department. Long time fellow Hoosiers know to never take a day featuring sunshine for granted in early February. Though still chilly, given the pattern ahead, I’d recommend getting outside and enjoying some of those rays today.

A cold front blows into town Thursday and will deliver a chilly rain by the afternoon. As colder air rushes in on the backside of the system, rain will likely mix with and end as a period of snow across the northern half of the state Thursday evening. Though the moisture will be leaving as the cold air is arriving, we may still be able to squeeze out a dusting to 1″ of wet snow for northern areas.

Attention will then shift to an arctic wave that will move into the Ohio Valley this weekend. Snow will become widespread across the central Plains Friday evening into Saturday morning before expanding east into our neck of the woods Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning. With cold air in place, this will be a higher ratio snow event than we’ve seen so far this winter (“fluff factor” will be in full effect). Additionally, strong and gusty winds are expected during this time frame leading to blowing and drifting concerns. Stay tuned. We’ll take a stab at early accumulation numbers with this evening’s Client Video update.

Additional upper level energy will scoot through the region into early next week, keeping a supply of snow showers ongoing. While still cold, models have pushed back the truly dangerous cold until late week. Case of delayed, but not denied? Unfortunately think so…

No Comments 7-Day Outlook, Arctic Cold, Blowing/ Drifting, Client, Forecast, Forecast Discussion, Rain, snow, Unseasonably Cool Weather, Windy

Never Trust An Arctic Wave: Accumulating Snow Prospects Growing This Weekend…

Updated: 02.02.21 @ 6:15p

While we have a few flurries (thanks to a little help from Lake Michigan) flying this evening, the bulk of the upcoming 48 hours will be rather quiet across the region. The next item on the agenda will come in the form of a cold front Thursday afternoon. As of now we anticipate rain (perhaps a brief early mix, but this won’t be a big deal) to arrive into central Indiana between 11a-1p Thursday. Mostly light to, at times, moderate rain will continue into the evening hours before ending as a brief period of wet snow Thursday evening (again, little if any impacts are expected).

Rainfall totals between 0.25″ and 0.50″ can be expected Thursday PM with the passage of the cold front.

The relatively quiet regime should return Friday, but by this time all eyes will be focused on the 1st of (2) arctic frontal systems. The 1st of these arctic fronts will sweep through the state Saturday PM and early Sunday. As this takes place, an arctic wave is expected to form along the leading edge of the true arctic air Saturday evening. This should result in an expanding area of snow that originally develops in the central Plains Friday night/ Saturday morning before pushing east, northeast Saturday into Sunday. With the arctic air pouring into the region, this should be a high ratio type snow and blowing/ drifting issues will likely be more of a problem than with the majority of systems so far this season.

While this is all taking place, a secondary low pressure system should develop along the Carolina coast early Sunday morning and it’s this system that will likely become the primary “player on the field” late in the weekend or early next week. Before that though, the arctic wave will likely result in a stripe of accumulating snow from the central Plains into the Ohio Valley, including central Indiana (too early for specific amounts). This will lay the groundwork for the coldest air of the season early next week…

Snow removal clients, as well as those in the ag. industry should keep close tabs on the weekend forecast. While we’re not expecting a widespread heavy snow event, the combination of snow, wind, and eventual bitterly cold air will lead to significant impacts as we move forward.

I would plan on temperatures falling into the single digits below zero, along with wind chill values potentially approaching 20° below zero by early next week.

Stay tuned.

No Comments Arctic Cold, Blowing/ Drifting, Client, Forecast Discussion, Rain, snow, Unseasonably Cool Weather, Windy