Southern Snow

I was hoping for a bit of snow out the the system that is tracking across the mid-south. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Skies were cloudy for most of the day with a few breaks in the late afternoon. Winds have been brisk out of the northeast gusting up to 24mph with temperatures in the upper 20's most of the day.
Snow is falling across the mid-south tonight. Memphis is expecting 2-4 inches of snow out of this system. I think that is unusual for them. Memphis is pretty far south although snow is not unheard of there. I was reading the comments to an article about the snow from the Memphis Commercial Appeal website and everyone seemed to be freaking out. Many comments about packed grocery stores. I guess that is a universal thing. Everyone rushes to the store because they think they won't be able to get out the next day. Ha! It would take an extraordinarily large storm to keep you prisoner at home for more than a day or two. It would take a blizzard!

Winter Blast Hits Area

Another round of winter weather has hit the area bringing rain, sleet, and snow. The morning started off tame with just a light coating of sleet/snow followed by a period of light rain and gusty winds. At noon, the wind gusted to 38mph. I figured that would be it since forecasts called for an inch or less of snow for our area, but we received about an inch and a half instead beginning around 1pm. That inch and a half came very quickly too with cold air quickly following. The snow was very heavy and wet and stuck to everything. In fact, I had to go out and brush the ice and snow off my satellite dish before I could make this post. The heavy wet snow turned into a slushy mess on the roadways that quickly froze into a solid sheet of packed ice. The highways were okay once treated with salt, but the back roads are the problems because they haven't been treated. The heaviest snow came around 2pm, so county trucks probably will not be out until Sunday morning to salt and sand.
There have been a couple of people stuck at the intersection just below my house this evening. If you look at the webcam picture, you can see the intersection just behind the three pine trees in the foreground. When vehicles stop at the intersection, they have a hard time getting started again on the slight incline. Everyone has managed to get going, but one vehicle was stuck for about 15 minutes.
Looking ahead, I'm reading reports on other blogs that temperatures will be in the 60's and possibly low 70's by the first week of March. That means March may be coming in like a lion. You can't have a big warm up like that and not get any storms. I'd like to see some strong thunder storms, but I'd also like at least one more big snow before the winter ends.

Wednesday Winds

Listening and reading what local weather forecasters had to say about the winds on Wednesday, you'd think we would have all day winds of 5omph. Locally though, the weather was tame up until 3pm. The heavy rain remained to our north and west while most of the severe weather remained to our south. However, as I said at 3pm the weather took a turn. A squall line of storms came through the area bringing a burst of heavy wind driven rain dropping visibility to less than 100 feet (30 meters). It was quite exciting to see, but only lasted about three minutes. After the squall passed, skies began to clear and sunshine returned. The winds were beginning to increase and by 6pm the winds were really howling. The top wind gust here at home was from the south at 47mph. Higher gusts were recorded around the area with Indianapolis having the strongest gust of 61mph.
Out of the storm, there was a tornado that touched down near Muncie, Indiana. The tornado was very weak, but still did considerable damage to this home and barn. Here is a report from the NWS in Indianapolis:
A National Weather Service survey team has determined that a small tornado touched down on Wednesday February 11 near 3:40 PM. The tornado touched down in Delaware county...near county roads 300 East and 550 South...which is about 5 miles southeast of Muncie...near the town of Medford.
The tornado was rated an EF-1 with approximately 100 mph winds. The tornado was approximately 100 feet wide and was on the ground for about two tenths of a mile.
This tornado dislodged a barn roof and damaged the roof of a single family home across the street.
This tornado is the first tornado of the year in Central Indiana.

Damaging Winds Likely Wednesday

Very strong winds are expected to develop across the area Wednesday afternoon. Wind gusts may be strong enough to produce damage across the area. This will be the strongest wind storm to hit since the September 14, 2008 storm that cut power for three days. Hopefully, we won't lose power for any great length of time, but with the saturated ground from recent snow melt and predicted heavy rain the stage will be set.

From the NWS in Indianapolis...
...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM WEDNESDAY TO 1 AM EST
THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN INDIANAPOLIS HAS ISSUED A HIGH
WIND WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM WEDNESDAY TO 1 AM
EST THURSDAY.
A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS ILLINOIS AND
NORTHERN INDIANA TOMORROW FOLLOWED BY A COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH
THE AREA. THE INTENSE PRESSURE GRADIENT AHEAD OF THIS FRONT AND
THE STRONG PRESSURE RISES BEHIND THE FRONT WILL CAUSE VERY STRONG
WINDS TO BLOW ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA.

WIND OF THIS STRENGTH CAN CAUSE WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. WITH A
SATURATED GROUND FROM RECENT SNOW MELT AND EXPECTED ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL TREES COULD EASILY BE TOPPLED IN THE STRONG WIND. IN
ADDITION TO TREE DAMAGE...POWER OUTAGES COULD ALSO OCCUR AS LOOSE
TREE BRANCHES AND TREES COULD FALL INTO POWER LINES.

ANYONE WITH OUTDOOR INTERESTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY HIGH WINDS.
TRAVELERS SHOULD REMAIN CAUTIOUS WHEN MAKING TRAVEL PLANS ON
WEDNESDAY. HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES WILL FIND TRAVEL DIFFICULT.

A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS A HAZARDOUS HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED
OR OCCURRING. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST 40 MPH OR GUSTS
OF 58 MPH OR MORE CAN LEAD TO PROPERTY DAMAGE.

Iguana Rain

It was "raining" iguanas in south Florida this morning. When the temperature drops to 40 degrees, the iguana's metabolism slows to near zero and they basically fall asleep. In Miami, the temperature was 38 this morning so all of the iguanas that were sitting up in the trees.... fell out of the trees onto the ground. After it warmed up, they woke up and went on their merry way.

Locally, temperatures were quite cold too. The low here at home this morning was -4F (-20C), but it was even colder just to our west. In Shelbyville, the morning low dropped to -13F (-25C). Temperature will be warming by about 60 degrees over the next few days. Our blanket of white will soon become a blanket of muck in no time. The possibility for up to 2 inches of rain next week along with the melting snow cover may lead to flooding.

Surprise Snowstorm

A forecast for 1-3 inches of snow turned into a wind driven 4-6 inches of snow. The snow began quietly at 8am, but picked up in intensity by 10am. By 12pm, 3 inches of snow was on the ground. Over the next two hours, the snow continued to fall and the winds began to increase. Winds were blowing out of the west northwest at 10-15mph with gusts up to 25mph. The temperature was beginning to drop too. At 12:10pm the temperature was 25F, but currently the temperature is 12F. This made the snow very light and fluffy allowing the winds to blow it around quite a bit and drift. Drifts around the house are about 2 feet deep.
Franklin County Schools posted a 90 minute early dismissal around noon. However, once buses arrived at the schools, conditions had deteriorated so much that the administration decided not to dismiss students until county road crews had a chance to plow roads. Listening to the bus frequency (463.650Mhz) on my scanner, I heard that Mt. Carmel school was dismissed once all buses arrived at the school. However, students at other schools were not dismissed. I heard the school administration direct students that were already on buses from St. Michael's School be taken to the Middle School until road conditions improved. It was not until 4:05pm that students at Laurel School were dismissed and 4:30pm until students at the high school were dismissed. This is a 45 minute *late* dismissal for Laurel Students and a 70 minute *late* dismissal for high school students. It is now 6:15pm and I continue to hear bus drivers on the radio. I'm hearing a lot of drivers checking in with the administration building that they have just dropped off their last student and are heading home.

Sharp Temperature Rise

Saturday started off very cold, but warmed quickly on southwest winds. The morning low temperature here at the house was 0F (-18C) and the afternoon high reached 38F (3C).
Other parts of the state had an even greater rise in temperatures. Bloomington's morning low was -7F (-22C) and rose to 42F (6C) a difference of 49 degrees.