Perfect Winter Day

After yesterdays snowfall, the world looks white and clean outside. Today was a perfect winter day with strong winds from the west northwest, snow on the ground, occasional snow showers, cloudy skies, below freezing temperatures, and wind chills in the single digits and teens above zero. I was outside for a good part of the day today working on an antenna and loved it. I will admit that my hands and feet were so cold they were numb, but a quick break out of the wind brought warmth back to the extremities. I know several people think I'm crazy for liking cold weather and they might be right. I realize that the cold is a hardship for many people who can't afford heat, but it's nature, it's Indiana and there's nothing I can do to prevent the cold so I'm going to enjoy it. Sever thunderstorms are hardships too for the people they affect, but I enjoy them as well. There's just something about the experience of weather that I find exciting. I'm hoping that we have several more days like today in the coming months.

Light Snow

Although it started out a bit weak, the snow filled in over the state this afternoon and brought us about 2 inches into this evening. It is a very dry powdery snow too, so it blows around quite a bit. Looks nice. A winter weather advisory has been posted for the area until 1AM Monday morning. This upcoming week will likely be cloudy and cool, but nothing exceptional. I don't see any storm systems on the horizon so we'll only see a passing snow shower or two through the week. Where are those big snowstorms and arctic air everyone was predicting for the Ohio Valley this winter? :-(

Oklahoma City, OK Blizzard

OKC doesn't see a lot of snow in the winter, but beginning on Christmas Eve a blizzard blew through town dropping up to 14 inches (36cm) of snow and 50 mile per hour winds! Sounds like something I'd love to experience myself, but likely won't. At least not this winter probably. Here's a video showing what conditions were like driving through town. I can't imagine how things would be out in the open away from buildings and trees.

It snowed a bit further south too in Dallas, Texas. Dallas experienced their first white Christmas in 80 years! It does snow in Dallas on occasion, but never very much and it certainly doesn't stick around. In fact, today the temperature hit 46F (7C) today with lots of sunshine. I'm sure the snow is now all gone.

Cloudy, Wet, Windy, Warm, Brown, Muddy Christmas

I wonder if it was a day like today when Irving Berlin wrote the song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas?" I'm sure Santa had to put the wheels on his sleigh last night since the snow that we've had over the last week is all gone now. All that remains are tiny little piles where the snow had been pushed aside. The temperature rose throughout the night to 46F (8C). I think we've reached our high for the day now and temperatures should begin to slowly fall throughout the day down to 25F (-4C) overnight tonight. We might even see some snow showers later this evening. The heavy rain that was promised though never developed across our area. Total rain since midnight is has only been 0.18 inches (4.5mm). Forecasts called for up to 2 inches (50mm) of rainfall. The big spoiler for today though may turn out to be the winds. Winds are out of the southeast this morning and will shift to the southwest later in the day as low pressure tracks to the northwest. Winds have been gusty this morning with a maximum gust of 30mph. The power has already blinked a couple of times this morning which makes me a bit nervous. Could the power go out today? Our wait for a big snowstorm continues.

First Measurable Snow of Season

I wasn't expecting to see much snow this morning, but to my surprise we picked up 1.5 inches (4cm) overnight. It is a heavy wet snow too that sticks to everything. Great snowball snow! I haven't been out this morning, but Sanes Creek is snow covered and looks very slippery. I imagine the main roads though are just wet. The current temperature is 32F (0C). If today were a school today, I'm certain we'd be under a 2-hour delay. Snow is forecast to continue off and on through the day today with a total accumulation of 1-3 inches.

Oh So Close!

We might get our first measurable snowfall of the season tonight into Saturday morning. We've been placed under a Winter Weather Advisory until 6am Sunday. I can't imagine it will continue for that length of time, but that's what is posted for now. I've highlighted Franklin county on the map in dark purple. Our area could get 2 inches of snow with the possibility of 4 inches. I don't have a lot of confidence in this forecast though, so I'm thinking we'll only see an inch of snow. We are on the extreme western edge of a major storm that's going to move up the mid-atlantic coast line. This storm has the potential of dropping up to 30 inches of snow on Washington DC. Wouldn't that be awesome!

Snow Possibilities Increasing

Although we've had some light snow already, it hasn't been all that significant. A week or so ago a very light snowfall came through the area by surprise causing massive traffic headaches for the morning rush. Road crews weren't out treating the roads and many area roads simply became ice skating rinks.
Well, our next chance of snow is coming up this weekend. An area of low pressure will move through central Kentucky Friday night into Saturday morning with the potential of laying down 1-3 inches of snow across the area. Another system, an Alberta Clipper, will swing through the area Sunday with 1-2 inches of potential accumulation. Finally, a storm may develop across the south bringing us the potential for heavy snow mid-week next week. Current models indicate that this storm will come through our area next Wednesday and Thursday, Christmas Eve. The models are in disagreement at this point though. There are two possible storm tracks. We want the southern track though for snow. I think a good track would be through central Kentucky. If the low tracks along the Ohio river, we might be okay for snow, but I'm not sure.
Wouldn't it be awesome to get as much snow as in this picture? I'd be so excited if we did. I'd probably be jumping up and down like a little kid. :-)

Overnight Surprise

Overnight Saturday into Sunday morning a heavy band of rain moved through the area bringing 1.32 inches of rain. This was a real shocker to me since the last report I'd heard was that only 0.25 inches was likely. Some very minor flooding occurred as a result of the heavy rain and still frozen ground. In addition to the rain being heavy, it began as freezing rain since temperatures were very close to 32F. In fact, the morning low was 32.5F at 2:45am. From that point on, the temperature began to rise as winds began to shift from the SE to the SW.

If only it had been just a few degrees colder here at the ground and a few thousand feet up above. Had that been the case, we would have nearly 13 inches of snow on the ground right now. Oh well. Our time will soon come and winter will strike our area too.

Winter Storm Winding Down

The snow is coming to an end across Iowa, but the winds continue to howl with gusts in excess of 55mph. Schools and businesses across Des Moines, Iowa are shutdown as a result of the snow and blowing snow. There's not a lot of traffic out there either. The two traffic camera shots are from this morning when traffic should be heaviest.
Blizzard warnings continue for nearly all of Iowa, the southern one-third of Minnesota, and the southern half of Wisconsin. Conditions should improve overnight tonight and then the dig out can begin. 10-15 inches of snow fell in Des Moines, while 16+ inches fell in Madison, Wisconsin.

Locally, the temperature has begun it's downward spiral. The temperature peaked at 52F (11C) at 4:30am and has been falling ever since. The current temperature at 12 noon is 32F (0C). The temperature should bottom out at about 15F (-9C) by tomorrow morning.

A nice snow shower is blowing across the area at the moment, I don't expect any accumulation though. Winds have been gusty, but since I'm not at home at the moment I can't tell you what the peak gust has been. I'd say it has been over 40mph though. The trees that I see outside my window here at work are blowing pretty good.

Major Winter Storm

A major winter storm is hitting the nation from the Southwest region all the way to the Great Lakes. Winter storm warnings and blizzard warnings have been posted from the Four Corners area all the way into Michigan. A thin band of heavy snow will setup from northern Kansas and head northeastward into Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan. In this corridor, up to 18 inches of snow could accumulate. In addition, strong winds will produce blizzard conditions across the area generating drifts of 12-15 feet in height!

In our area though, the weather will have a very different feel. After starting at the freezing point this morning, temperatures should rise into the upper 30's to near 40 as rain begins to push into the area. Up to an inch of rainfall is possible by midnight tonight. After that, colder air will begin to rush into the area and turn what little moisture is left behind into snow showers. Little or no accumulation is expected, but it will be cold. With a heavy snow pack to our northwest, the air has little chance to moderate as it heads to the south. Thursday high should only reach 22F (-6C) with morning lows around 10F (-12C).
Another factor that will make that cold air seem even colder is the winds. Sustained winds of 35mph with gusts to 55mph are expected after midnight tonight and will peak during the day on Wednesday. The winds should begin to subside by Wednesday night.

Sub 20 Temperatures

The first temperatures of the season below 20F (-7C) came on Saturday morning and this morning. The morning low on Saturday, December 5 was 18F (-8C) and the low this morning, December 6 was 15F (-9C). Hopefully this will help cool the ground and road surfaces so that when we do get some snow this week, it will stick!

Houston Snow

From KBTX.com: Normally hot and humid Houston is dealing with weather it rarely gets: snow. Snow began falling Friday morning in Houston and other parts of southeast Texas and as of late Friday afternoon had not stopped.

National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Roeseler says it's the earliest snow in Houston's history. The previous record for Houston was Dec. 10 in 2008 and 1944.

Snow is rare for the nation's fourth largest city. In the past 15 years, it has snowed four times, including Friday.

The National Weather Service says there have been reports from counties southwest of Houston of accumulations of 3 to 4 inches. There have been reports of half an inch or less in Houston with suburbs south of the city reporting 1 to 2 inches.

AS of 4:00PM Friday there were reports of snow on Galveston Island. Earlier in the day it had been snowing as far southwest as Victoria.

November 2009 Summary

November has turned out to be a rather mild and dry month. A complete 180 degree turn around from October. Will December do another 180? We'll wait and see.
The warmest temperature in November was 71F (21C) on November 8 and the coolest was 25F (-4C) on November 27. Total rainfall for the month was only 0.85 inches (22mm). This is well below the normal rainfall of 3.59 inches (91mm). Only a few flakes of snow were visible in the air during the month of November.