Category: Winter Storm

Jan 16

Snow Event And Arctic Reinforcements To Close The Week; Active Storm Track Ahead…

Updated 01.16.24 @ 12:34p

Today and most, if not all, of Wednesday will be plain ole cold but at least precipitation free. We’ll have to watch short term guidance closely for a band of snow that will develop across northern Indiana overnight and into Thursday morning. We think this snow band will sink south into at least north-central Indiana after sunrise Thursday before falling apart likely around Indianapolis. A quick 1”-2” of snow is likely across northern and north-central Indiana Thursday morning.

Our next opportunity of snow (area wide) will move in Thursday night and Friday morning. This will be a much higher ratio type snow (think 20:1) than typical with the cold, arctic airmass in place. We should easily be able to accumulate 2”-4” with this event, with the potential of a couple 4”+ reports. (Snow removal clients, plowing and salting will be activated by Thursday evening).

A fresh round of bitter, arctic air flows in as we kick off the weekend. With a fresh snowpack, another round of subzero lows should be expected. Look for highs in the 10s Saturday and 20s Sunday. Wind chill values will dip to around -20° as we kick off the weekend.

Though a moderating trend will kick in in full force next week, we’ll have to watch for the potential of a freezing rain and/ or sleet event Monday night into Tuesday (arctic air is always slower to erode than usually modeled) and a true shift to a wet pattern for the middle and latter part of next week.

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/snow-event-and-arctic-reinforcements-to-close-the-week-active-storm-track-ahead/

Jan 12

Prolonged Period Of Bitterness, But A Change Is On The Horizon…

Updated 01.12.24 @ 12:18p

The upcoming 10-days is a case of cold and if you believe some of the guidance, even colder (next weekend). Multiple nights below zero and dangerous wind chill values of 20° to 30° below zero are on tap at times during this period. You know that we’re interested to see if we meet our respective targets. It’s not just the magnitude of the cold, but the duration and widespread nature, as shown over the upcoming 10-day temperature anomalies from last night’s European ensemble.

But milder changes are on the horizon as we rumble through the warmer phases (at least this time of year) of the MJO and see some temporary trends within our teleconnection suite (AO, NAO, EPO, and PNA) that favor a period of much less harsh, and even milder than normal conditions developing by the last week of the month.

After our frigid stretch, temperatures even only a few degrees above normal will feel like a heatwave.

The hunch here is that we return to another cold stretch as we rumble into February. Long range guidance shows “part 2” of our high latitude blocking event and the thought here is this is a byproduct of a combination of sea surface temperature (SST) configuration in the northwest ATL, the current state of our Nino, as well as the SST configuration in the central/ northern PAC. At any rate, the alignment between teleconnections and, of course, the MJO rolling into the colder phases supports this idea. Let us worry about that and you enjoy the late month “mild-up!” Heavens knows after these next couple weeks, you will have earned it!

We’ll continue to keep tabs on the threat of snow over the next couple weeks. Things can, obviously, change but as of now I’m not seeing any hefty snow threats for central Indiana. The one feature that does potentially require watching is out there towards the end of next week, but the overall fast paced flow should prevent this from deepening into anything overly significant. At least that’s the way we see it now.

We’ll continue to keep close tabs on short-term trends but feel good with what we have out there concerning rain/ snow amounts, timing of the transition, and damaging wind potential.

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/prolonged-period-of-bitterness-but-a-change-is-on-the-horizon/

Jan 11

VIDEO: Long Range Manifesto And Fresh Thoughts On Friday/ The Weekend…

Updated 01.11.24 @ 6:12p Busy times remain in the good ole forecast office! This evening we dig into not only new long range thoughts but look deeper into the latest…

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Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/video-long-range-manifesto-and-fresh-thoughts-on-friday-the-weekend/

Jan 10

Client Brief: Rain To Snow? Yes, But Bigger Deal Damaging Wind Potential And Bitter Cold…

Updated 01.10.24 @ 5:33p

Type: Severe Winter Weather

A prolonged period of strong, gusty, and potentially damaging winds will develop Friday into Saturday.
Expected maximum wind gusts

What: Rain changing to snow; prolonged period of strong winds, and bitter cold

When: Friday, 1/12/24 and Saturday, 1/13/24

Wind: Variable 20-30 MPH with gusts to 50 MPH

Temperatures: Middle 40s Friday falling below freezing Friday night and below zero by Sunday morning.

Pavement Impacts: Salting will be required Friday night through the weekend.

Summary: A rapidly deepening area of low pressure will track through central Indiana Friday. What will likely be a SLP in the low 990s (millibars) Friday morning is liable to be in the low 970mb range by Friday night in southern Michigan. This will undoubtedly lead to a “big blow” across all of the region as we close out the work week and head into the weekend and that’s where we want to start with the headlines. A prolonged period of 20-30 MPH winds with gusts close to 50 MPH can be expected during this time frame.

As far as precipitation goes, rain is forecast to move into central Indiana Friday morning, falling heavy at times. If you have travel plans up north across northern Indiana, more in the way of wet snow is forecast during this time period. We’re not expecting to transition to snow until after sunset Friday (from west to east) as colder air pours in on the backside of the strengthening low. Snow showers will continue to fall into Saturday morning and with the strong and gusty northwest winds in place, lowered visibility and some slick spots can be expected across the region. Only light snow amounts are forecast, locally, to the tune of 0.50″ to 1.50″, but good luck measuring that in all of the wind. Scattered snow showers (arctic haze) will continue into Sunday as brutal arctic air oozes into the region.

Confidence: High

Next update: 7:30a Thr

Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/client-brief-rain-to-snow-yes-but-bigger-deal-damaging-wind-potential-and-bitter-cold/

Jan 10

VIDEO: Another Strong Storm On Deck; Bitterly Cold Air Follows…

Updated 01.10.23 @ 7:44a As we catch our breath from the recent active turn in the pattern, eyes are already shifting west for a new storm that will emerge over…

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Permanent link to this article: https://indywx.com/video-another-strong-storm-on-deck-bitterly-cold-air-follows/