Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Golfing Weather to A White Thanksgiving for Some Hoosiers on the Way



The only thing keeping us from a record-breaking high temperature today will be those pesky clouds. But it will still feel great for all golfers, joggers, or those just wanting to get outside. We need to soak up all the warm weather while we have it because huge changes are on the way with snow showers likely by Thanksgiving morning. The question is not "if" but "how much" it will snow. This brings us to our blog question of the day:

Hi Mike,

This is Tyler(from the job shadowing) just telling you how excited I am about the first snowflakes this year. So my question is; Will we see at least a dusting of snow?

-Tyler Heckstall-
~Have a great Thanksgiving~


Great question Tyler! I can answer this because we are just talking about forecasting a dusting. Of course to win my snow shovel contest you have to forecast the first inch of snow here at WLFI and
not only will I shovel your driveway but you win a free year's worth of pizza from Mad Mushroom. The snow showers on Thanksgiving will not amount to much here in Lafayette. We have three things working against us. There is a warm ground, the storm track will bring only scattered light precipitation and air temperatures during the snow should be hovering above freezing. Now areas to our north and west will have a chance for that first dusting. Here is an up-close map for you.



So head to South Bend and extreme northern Indiana if you are looking for a dusting to one inch of snow. These areas will be just cold enough for grassy accumulations. The good news is that travel should not be hampered with just wet roadways. To answer your question now...Lafayette could see its first dusting of snow as early as next week or the first week of December. There is a huge ridge of high pressure building in Alaska which could bring them a Spring pattern. All of the cold air usually found there will be pushed out and head in our direction. We will also have a polar vortex near Hudson Bay which will keep us in a cold northwest flow. This "clipper" pattern could give us a candy coating of snow. Check out the new 6 to 10 day outlook.




What you do not see is that Lafayette will also have a wetter than normal pattern which will also enhance our snow chances. I still think we have a good chance of a White Christmas, because long-range patterns still indicate the cold air winning the battle along with a stormy weather pattern continuing well into December. So Tyler you have plenty to be happy about over the next few weeks. I know I normally root for snow as well, but over Thanksgiving I am happy it looks like most of us can get to where we need to go without having to worry about being stranded. I will post those travel grades for you first thing on Wednesday morning before you head out. Have a safe trip wherever you may be going!

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