The Mother of All January Thaws on the Way! But Winter is Far From Over!

It has been several years since we have seen temperatures in January go from highs near 10 to possible record highs near 60 as we head into next Tuesday. This volatile pattern is being caused by very chilly ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean also known as La Nina. This is causing a huge roadblock in the atmosphere and playing havoc with the jet stream and the world weather patterns. Portions of the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe could see more than 6 inches of snow per hour today with wind gusts over 140 mph. Snowfall totals could easily exceed 6 feet by early next week.

What it means for us here at home is extreme swings in our weather pattern. I see huge ups and downs for the remainder of January. Our 50 degree warm-up in daytime highs may even bring strong thunderstorms. Now as we know in Indiana the transition can be bumpy. This weekend, despite the rumors circulating out there.... I do not see any big ice storms or significant icing. We could see a little patchy freezing drizzle and fog late tonight and Saturday morning. Temperatures should be near freezing and quickly rise above freezing during the day on Saturday keeping any ice accumulations to a minimum. I am more concerned about patchy dense fog developing as the warmer air moves in. It could be foggy for a good portion of the day especially for our counties to the north with the heavier snow cover. So fog is my number one concern this weekend, but by Sunday the fog should lift giving way to 50s.

Now the big question is just how strong those thunderstorms will be late Monday into Tuesday. Will there be tornadoes as close to home as Missouri? Could we have a repeat of severe weather like we saw in January of 1996? How much rain will we receive and how bad will the flooding be next week. I will answer these questions tonight on the newscast and post your answers here on the blog this evening.

Florida Freeze Update:

I did check into the falliing iguanas near Miami, Florida yesterday and it really did happen. Reports of iguanas falling out of trees and laying on the ground as if they were dead were running rampant yesterday morning. Since those lizards are cold-blooded the cold weather caused them to go into hibernation mode. They usually come back to life again once the sun heats them back up during the day. The good news for those iguanas is that is was a very short hibernation. Here at home winter is ready to go into hibernation, but it will likely spring back to life like those iguanas by later next week so enjoy the warmer weather while you can. Have a great weekend.

Next Chance of a Significant Snowstorm:

The 3rd Week of January