Winter Storm Summary

The storm is over and skies are slowly beginning to clear this afternoon. After receiving 3 inches (8cm) of snow Tuesday morning, about an inch or two of sleet fell Tuesday afternoon into the early morning hours of Wednesday along with a small amount of freezing rain. The sleet and freezing rain then turned to all snow with 6 inches (15cm) blanketing the area ending around 11am Wednesday morning. I measured the snow in several spots and came up with an average of 9 inches (23cm). The sleet packed down the snow a bit from Tuesday morning.
Other areas received a lot more snow. I saw one report from Gosport in Owen county of 15 inches (38cm) of snow with the Indianapolis area getting 12 inches (30cm) of snow. Bloomington also saw a foot of snow. Lighter amounts further south because more freezing rain mixed in cutting snowfall totals down.
Snow plows didn't make into the area until after 2pm today. The roads that have been plowed are in good shape.

Sleet Storm

Since my last post, we've had about 1 inch (2cm) of sleet. Because the temperature has been near 20F (-7C), the sleet is very dry and granular. The sleet is almost like sand. In fact, driving in is much like driving in sand too. It makes your vehicle squirm a bit as you drive along just like driving in deep sand would be.
The sleet is supposed to change back over to snow later tonight. If it changes over soon enough, we may get 6-8 inches of snow overnight. I just hope it does make the change. The heaviest precipitation should be in our area by 4am.

Winter Storm Warning

Finally, a storm that brings more than an inch and will require some shoveling! A two round storm is affecting the area today. Round one brought about 3 inches of snow (7cm) in overnight Monday into Tuesday morning. Much lighter amounts fell to the north though and heavier amounts to our south. Seymour, Indiana picked up 6 inches of snow overnight.
Round two is just beginning this afternoon and is predicted to bring 6-12 inches (10-30cm) across south central Indiana. Temperatures are very cold at the surface, but a bit warmer above so sleet is going to be a part of round two. Unfortunately, if we do get a lot of sleet the snowfall totals will be down. I'm thinking though that the sleet will remain to our south this evening and we will just get snow locally. At least that's what I'm hoping.
A winter storm warning has been posted since Monday morning for the area outlined in pink on the map above. The blue areas represent a winter weather advisory. I was watching the weather on Channel 13 out of Indianapolis at noon today and their meteorologist disagreed with the winter weather advisory and believed that it should also be upgraded to a warning. Time will tell, but with the possibility of a foot of snow, that sounds like a good idea.
There's one thing that would make this storm a really good storm... wind. I don't think we'll see much wind though.

Inauguration Weather

It was a beautiful day in Washington DC, but cold. Temperatures were in the mid and upper 20's during the inauguration with sunny skies. Approximately 1.4 million people lined the streets of the city to celebrate the Obama Presidency. This was the largest gathering for an inauguration in US history. Because of the large crowds, cellphone networks were concerned about inadequate capacity. They brought in large trucks called COWs (Cell On Wheels) to temporarily increase network capacity in and around the city.

December 2004 Retains Title

The low this morning was -11F (-24C) which is the coldest morning low since December 25, 2004. Yesterday's afternoon high of 3F (-16C), was the coldest maximum since I began keeping records in January 1997.
Click on the map to see current temperatures across the US.

Coldest Morning Since 2004?

At 11pm, temperatures across the area are near -5F (-21C) and are continuing to drop. The wind chill is currently at -25F (-32C). Forecast lows for the area are near -10F (-23C). I hope that we exceed -12F and hit -13F for the morning low, but I don't think that will happen. On December 25, 2004 the low was -12F and we had a very deep snow cover of 28 inches. If we had that type of snow cover tonight, we'd probably have a low in the -20F to -30 range. Unfortunately, we just don't have the deep snow cover that would help create such cold temperatures.

Here Comes the Cold

Well, we ended up with about an inch of snow which was within the range forecast. It's really sad when you consider an inch of snow a decent snowfall, but this winter it seems that's about the best we can do. The high today only reached the mid 20's, so the snow that did fall was very dry and fluffy.
Even though we were only able to squeeze out an inch or so of snow, one consolation is that some arctic air is filtering into the area which hopefully will drop the temperature to the coldest readings since December 2004. Overnight lows are forecast to be near 0F (-18C) tonight and near -10F (-23C) Thursday night. Tomorrow's high will be in the single digits above zero. Areas just a bit farther north like Kokomo will remain below zero all day! Although that seems cold, it's a walk along a tropical beach compared to International Falls, Minnesota. Lows there tonight are forecast to be -48F (-44C) and high temperatures tomorrow at -15F (-26C). I know it sounds crazy, but I'd love to live in a part of the country with those types of temperatures.

But I *LOVE* Snow

Some people have all the luck. Chicago, which is where the photo at left was taken, has received 38" of snow so far this winter. It seems Mother Nature has been overly generous with her white blanket of snow across the Great Lakes states while here in the Ohio Valley we've gotten bubkas. Our snow total for the winter so far has been around 3". We still have a lot of winter left though and it wasn't until January 25, 1978 that the blizzard hit so we still have a lot of opportunity for snow.
An arctic blast is heading our way. Low temperatures by Thursday morning will be around -8F (-22C) with wind chill readings in the -20 to -25F (-30C) range. All of these temperatures are based on not having any snow cover on the ground. If we can get a few inches of snow, temperatures may end up dropping to near -15F (-26C). I hope we get a good snow cover! A clipper system is dropping down from Canada and might give us that snow Wednesday. Indianapolis is saying the heaviest snow will be north of I-70 with only 1-2 inches across the Metro area and an inch or less around Columbus. Louisville is saying Columbus will get 2 inches with heavier amounts to the north. I don't know who to believe, so we'll just wait and see what happens.

Snowy Day

Yesterday was icy, today was snowy. It seems Mother Nature has been reading my blog. Although we didn't get a snowstorm, snow fell throughout the day today adding up to an inch or two in spots. This was just a nuisance snow, but it was really nice to watch. Roadways remained clear with only a few icy patches on untreated roads through the day. However, by late this afternoon the winds began to pick up and began to blow the snow across the north/south roads creating snow packed stretches. Road crews were trying to keep the snow off of the road, but the wind just blew the snow back onto the roads. There are still some snow showers around and untreated roads that were wet through the day are freezing back over. As a result roads are icy and hazardous in spots.

Icy Day

Mother Nature has given us just a taste of her more famous winter recipe... ice. Over night an into the day today, freezing rain coated the state in ice causing for difficult travel on foot as well as by car. Schools around the area were closed today because of the icing. More precipitation is expected tonight. Will it be ice, snow, or rain? Will the roads be to icy for school tomorrow? Only time will tell. Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Where's Winter?

This is turning out to be a very boring winter season so far. I'm sure the little boy in this picture would much rather be sledding down a hill covered in fresh white snow rather than teeter around in a playground. In the fall, some forecasters were calling for a severe winter across the eastern half of the US. Well, the northern third of the country, especially around the Great Lakes, have had a severe winter so far. I think Madison, Wisconsin had 60 inches of snow in December alone. Locally though, we've had no more than an inch of snow on the ground at any one time. We did have a few rounds of freezing rain causing problems on the roads, but it was short lived. No, this winter is turning out to be bad for those of us who like the snow. I sure hope we get a few good storms in before it gets too late. March will be here quickly and although we can get some great storms in March (Check out March '08) the snow doesn't stick around long due to the suns higher elevation. Come on Mother Nature, give us some snow!

Happy New Year!

The new year is starting out very quiet. I don't see any big storms on the horizon, just average temperatures for January and some light rain or snow on occasion. I hope Mother Nature flexes her muscles again soon.