Nature Goes for the Cycle! Now Brace for an Arctic Outbreak

Hey Mike and crew, this is storm chaser Eric Graham. Thought I send you guys in a pic of the Pedestrian Bridge and the Wabash River. Its been a while since I've seen the Wabash and the Wildcat Creek this high. Its pretty amazing stuff. I'll send in some more pics whenI get a chance.
Stay warm guys! It's a cold one out there!

Sincerely,

Eric Graham

I took this picture this morning just north of Greencastle on US 231 this morning. Straight line winds riped the roof off of this barn. The debris was blown over about a 1/4 mile to the east.

Chris Huang

Hi Mike,

When people complain about cold weather here, talk about -20 wind-chill and the like, my friends up in Alaska just laugh. One of them sent me this little AP story and I thought I would share.

- Monty -

FAIRBANKS - Even for Alaska's Interior, this is cold. The National Weather Service reports the coldest spot in the state Wednesday morning was minus 67 at O'Brien Creek, a spot on the Taylor Highway nearly 200 miles east of Fairbanks.There was also an unofficial reading of minus 70 in Tok, but residents were treating it as just another winter day."We're generally close to this temperature at this time of the year," said Sgt. Freddie Wells of the Alaska State Troopers post in Tok.But troopers are placing a priority on responding to calls from stranded motorists, and there is heightened concern for the community's older residents.Otherwise, Wells says, it seems people are staying inside more.Readings of minus 50 to minus 60 were common throughout the Interior overnight, including minus 65 at Chicken, a tiny community on the Taylor Highway east of Fairbanks.Chicken also holds the distinction of having the last official temperature in the state of minus 70 or colder - 72 below on Jan. 1, 2000.The state's second-largest city also wasn't immune from the cold. The noontime high Wednesday in Fairbanks was minus 45.There doesn't appear to be any warming in immediate sight; the Weather Service says the extreme cold should stick around until early next week.---Information from Fairbanks Daily News-Miner,
www.newsminer.com

Thanks for all the great pictures and articles. The straight-line damage you see above had wind speeds estimated at 85 mph last night. There was also a confirmed EF-1 tornado with 100 mph winds confirmed in Greene County on Tuesday night. Today I checked in on my relatives in Wisconsin where on the cold side of the storm Oconomowoc had 16 inches of snow and blizzard conditions. What a historic week it has been and we are not done yet so keep those pictures and weather stories coming! Remember I am just the messenger and I know everybody's been on edge with this rotten weather. Even I am ready for just some good old-fashioned sunshine for a couple weeks.

We woke up to icy roads this morning. So let me get this straight....so far this week in our viewing area we have had thundersnow, thundersleet, freezing rain, hail, thunderstorm warnings, wind gusts near 50 mph, record flooding, a record high of 61, near record flooding once again on the Tippecanoe, major flooding on the Wabash, and the WORST FOG some folks have ever seen in our area. Some areas had 8 inches of snow that vanished within 5 days! We need some good news! I found some in the form of sunshine today. Do you remember that bright object in the sky? :)

But that weird weather pattern in place since the start of the new year will likely re-emerge by this weekend. That is why I shared Monty's good find for you. A chunk of that Arctic Air is coming our way. So nature is going for the cycle. I am using this in baseball terms when a player gets a single, double, triple, and home run. What nature has done this week is like hitting for two cycles in one game with an extra home run thrown in there. The only thing we will not see this week will be hot weather, otherwise we have had all the seasons in one week. I will have more on how low it will go this weekend and why it will be good weather if you are a polar bear. See you soon and get those layers ready. We will talk more about when this pattern could break for good here on the blog tomorrow.