A major cold front will be arriving in Southern Indiana Thursday that will make way for brutally cold air and the chance for accumulating snow. I'm going to break this entire event down throughout the course of this blog as there's a lot to go through.
The Timing
12am Thursday - Rain begins in Southern Indiana. This will be just plain rain no wintery precipitation expected.
Morning & Early Afternoon - Scattered showers continue with highs in the 30s.
2pm CST./3pm EST. - Change over to what could be combination of a wintery mix before becoming all snow in Southwestern Indiana.
5pm CST./6pm EST. - Change over to winter precipitation occurs in Central parts of Southern Indiana.
7pm CST./8PM EST. - Change over to winter precipitation occurs in Eastern parts of Southern Indiana
12am Friday - All precipitation comes to an end
Friday & Saturday - Dry but windy. Winds 25-30mph gusting to 40-50mph. Watch out for blowing snow, reduced visibility and slick roads!
The Impacts
While we have the chance for rain and snow the bigger concern is the temperatures. Overnight lows Thursday night will be 2 below zero with wind chill values ranging from -25 to -30 degrees. This means it will be dangerous to be outdoors unless extreme caution is taken such as making sure appropriate clothing is worn (e.g. hat, gloves, scarf, winter coat, boots, etc.) In temperatures like these frost bite can occur in less than 30 minutes. Also, don't forget about your pets if it's too cold for you it's too cold for your pets bring them indoors or to somewhere that will keep them safe and out of the brutal cold.
On top of the cold will be the winter precipitation. The storm will start out as plain rain as temperatures will be above freezing during the start of Thursday. By the afternoon temperatures will start to drop from the 30s to the teens and then likely dipping below zero during the overnight as the forecasted low is -2. With the big drop in temperatures comes the concern for a flash freeze which means anything wet will become a solid sheet of ice. That in mind we could see patches of black ice and even a light glazing of ice in some areas and this will all likely get covered by snow.
As it stands now accumulating snow is possible and wind will also be a factor in this storm as we're expecting the possibility of 15 to 25mph winds gusting to 40 to 50mph. This will lead to reduced visibilities and blowing snow and even if the road has been treated they could easily become snow covered again just from snow being blown around. And with the way this event is going to occur crews won't be able to pretreat due to the rain occurring ahead of the wintery precipitation and also once temperatures dip below 15 degrees a lot of the chemicals used start becoming ineffective so it will be extremely important to use caution if you must travel.
Overall, expect minor snow accumulation with a patches of ice and travel issues will be likely.
Accumulation Totals
As it stands now we could see at least an inch of snow with the likelihood of seeing anywhere from an inch to 4 inches. Some areas locally may see higher amounts which would fall under the at most category of +4 inches. Given that the wind will blow the snow around and the rain ahead of the change over to snow it could impact the ability to get higher totals but nonetheless extreme caution will be a must if you plan to travel Friday and even over the holiday weekend.
The National Weather Service has Winter Storm Watches, Warnings, and Advisories posted for a good portion of Southern Indiana and all of these alerts will go into effect starting Thursday.
The National Weather Service has also issued a Wind Chill Warning for Southwestern Indiana and Wind Chill Watch Parts of Central and Eastern Southern Indiana. It wouldn't surprise me to see additional counties added to this later. Overall, everybody in Southern Indiana is likely to see the brutal cold whether your county is in a wind chill alert or not.
Overall, it's gonna be a cold and messy next couple of days so stay warm and use extreme caution if you must travel or be outdoors! Stay Safe!
Comments