Somebody Call off the Squirrels! Here Comes More Stormy Weather

Courtesy of Raymond Gray

You just have to keep a sense of humor in this weather pattern. Many folks have seen just as much sunshine so far in the month of December in their basement than outside. An amazing 10 of 11 days have brought a variety rain, freezing rain, thunder, sleet, and snow. We have had just about everything imaginable except a good dose of sunshine and today will mark our 9th consecutive day with recorded precipitation. We have received less than 10 percent of our possible sunshine this month. So I have found the culprit! It has to be the squirrels. You can see Larry from Lafayette pictured has the look of "I told you so". Can somebody call off the squirrels? I was calling for a stormy December but this is getting ridiculous. We talked about the squirrels here on the blog and how they were all very active and that the last time they were this active we had a blizzard. At this point I would love a blizzard! Give me anything except ice or rain. We have already had about 3" of precipitation here in Lafayette for the month of December when we only average 2.43" and we are not even half way through the month. This heavy rain is taking its toll. Flood advisories were issued in Newton and Jasper Counties yesterday. Here is what it looked like.


Courtesy of Mary Anne Best

Mary Anne's backyard in Remington looked more like a river as Carpenter Creek came out of its banks. The combination of a frozen ground and heavy rain do not go together very well. The water simply had nowhere to go. Mary Anne had about 2 inches of rain and counting as of late last night. Here at WLFI we registered 1.14" and counting. We continue to be right on the dividing line between record-breaking heat to the south and cold arctic air to the north. Ripples of low pressure or storms love feeding off of this big contrast and when you add in a strong jet stream get ready for a very storm period. You can really see this by checking out Tuesday's high temperatures.



Yesterday we had high temperatures in our viewing area that ranged fromthe middle 30s in Remington to 50 in Crawfordsville. There was also a record-breaking high of 72 in Louisville, Kentucky! No wonder nature is licking its chops over us. You can say with confidence this is one of our wildest starts to December on record after I tell you there is a tropical storm that has been pounding Hispaniola with 60 mph winds. Hurricane season officially ended November 30th and tropical storms usually only form in December in the Atlantic basin once every 15 years. That sums up our December so far!



Meet tropical storm Olga. Now if Olga did not interact with Haiti and the Dominican Republic and moved north of the island it could have actually made it to Florida as a hurricane! The good news is that it should be a much weaker storm now that it has been shredded by the mountainous terrain of Hispaniola. Can you imagine? Well just before I let you go this is not all. We want it to go down as one of the wildest starts to December ever right?



Let me introduce you to Miss European. Yes, this is the name I give one of my favorite long-range models or weather maps. This is actually the ECMWF model which stands for the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. This is usually the best long-range model that meteorologists turn to when trying to figure out a forecast several days in advance. Now Miss European may not be your favorite if you do not like snow. Here is what she is telling us. You can make out Lake Michigan on the map above and then notice the green and yellow shaded areas moving over Indiana. This is actually a rich supply of moisture that will be moving our way over the coldest air mass of the season this weekend. You can even make out a low pressure area moving up over Kentucky. That is right! The low pressure is moving along in the old Ohio Valley storm track that usually brings us some of our biggest snowstorms. The black areas represent the drier air. It looks like we will have plenty of moisture to work with and will still have a strong jet stream and energized atmosphere. This is the reason I am calling for our biggest snowstorm here in Lafayette since the blizzard of 2007 this coming up weekend. Now please do not spread rumors that another blizzard is coming. I do not expect a blizzard, but at times it will look like one with lots of blowing and drifting snow. Along the East Coast there very well could be a real blizzard. Here at home we will have at least 3 or more inches of snow and it would likely move in Saturday and end by early Sunday. I will continue to fine-tune the amounts for you so make sure to tune in. Just remember do not blame me, blame the squirrels or Miss European. Have a great day!