Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Coats of Snow, Hat, & Gloves Weather Grips Lafayette


Breaking Weather Blog News:

The space shuttle will be able to be viewed tonight at 6:55 p.m. in the southern sky so make sure to take a look. We should have good viewing conditions but make sure you have your heavy coat!
Snow update includes double-digit snowfall in Indiana!

If you lived in Valparaiso this is what it would look like out your weather window. Thank you Mary Beth Wheelock and Mary Anne Best for forwarding her picture to me. Valparaiso ended up with an astounding 10" of snow. Rochester which is in the northern reaches of our viewing area had just over 3 inches of snow. There were many slick roads and even black ice reported this morning on area roads near Lafayette. Once again tonight black ice could cause some problems. This transparent form of ice likes to form in temperatures below 23 degrees and we should meet that criteria. So be extra careful on the roadways tonight even though the stars will be out. There is no road salt out there for any traction which makes black ice even more of a problem and concern than usual.

Diana Marion of Monticello sent in this picture of a dusting that fell on Monday morning. Dustings of snow also were reported from Monon to Logansport and Kokomo.


That is right, I chased down some snowflakes last night. It looked like we were in for a snowstorm at one point and when the snow was coming down moderately heavy at one point. But like most lake-effect snow bands that impact Lafayete, it was a very narrow band and it did not last too long. But notice the background picture below does show the snow did put down a dusting on the southside of Lafayette last night.


We did have some WLFI viewers report over an inch of snow in central and northern Fulton County and far northern Pulaski County as of 11 p.m. last night. Notice the nice healthy report of 1.2 inches in Rochester. By time all is said and done Rochester may end up with closer to 4 inches of snow and we should see some 12 inch amounts in Michigan. La Porte also looks like it will be the sweet spot for Indiana with totals of 6 to 8 inches before all is said and done.
I will post the updated totals later today on the blog. This snow is a sign of just how cold it is outside. You have this cold air mass and wind blowing over the much warmer Lake Michigan and this huge temperature contrast helps to condense out tons of lake-effect snow. The snow train was chugging last night and the wind switched a little more out of the north causing the lake bands that hit eastern portions of Indiana to move farther west bringing me a wonderful 10 minutes of running around in the snow with my camera. Not even my dog could keep up with me and he is a fast little guy.

Even though we did not have a big snowstorm this time around in Lafayette, this brings us to our Lafayette winter weather awareness tip of the day. The winter terminology has changed just a bit this year. No longer will we have heavy snow warnings. This is to cut down on the many different watches and warnings that are issued by different weather offices. Many times these offices overlap into different viewing areas causing confusion. So less is more in this case.


Take a look at the differences and realize that we will have AVERAGE 2 WINTER STORM WARNINGS every winter and this year will likely be no exception to the rule.
When more than a quarter inch of ice is forecasted it is called an ice storm warning. A freezing rain advisory is issued with less than a quarter-inch of ice. Sleet warnings do not exist and usually are put in the same grouping as winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories.

Blog Question of the Day: What is our chance of a blizzard this year?

Here in Lafayette our chance of a blizzard year to year is about 8% and this year since I am forecasting a much drier winter and a milder January and February I will keep our blizzard chances close to 10%. But nature will make the final call on this one so stay tuned!

Today this cold wind will finally ease up thanks to high pressure moving in from the West and this will effectively stop the snow train in its tracks. We could even see some sunshine this afternoon! I know there are a lot of folks wondering if winter is here to stay. I do have this pattern breaking by later next week and even though we will still have cold shots I do think the big ridge out west will move closer and bring us some milder weather just in time for Thanksgiving. The turkey tells us the story. It looks like the turkey will thaw with the rest of us in time for our big holiday! Gobble, gobble, gobble....


We will talk more about this on the blog later today and have your winter weather awareness tip. Please send in any winter questions you may have so we will have more fun stuff to talk about here on the blog. Have a great day and thanks for reading.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love all the snow pictures Mike.
I hope to send you some as soon as we get some! :-)

Well off to bed.....With nice thoughts of snow flurries!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

Yes the snow pictures are pretty:-)
Any one who does not have a garage to park their car in, might want to go out and warm that baby up.

There a pretty good coating of frost on the windows.

Who ever made the comment about nose hairs freezing, mine are this morning:-(

Anonymous said...

I happen to like the morning weather girl. She does have a name, Stefanie! So she made a few grammer errors, are you perfect?

She is new! in time and in Mikes hands, she will improve, Not an easy job she has!

Funny how people pick at the smallest of things, so quick to point out the mistakes of others.

Anonymous said...

Seems there are some grouchy people on this blog. This is a friendly blog, no place for put downs!

Anonymous said...

Seeing some snowflakes right now in Monticello.

Wish it would start building up!

Anonymous said...

Here in Lafayette the sun is shining! Is very cold:( Hope you get the snow you are wishing for Brow:)

Teri in Laf

Anonymous said...

To the picky blogger...I don't care HOW bad her grammar is as long as she knows the weather!! :-)I need someone at WLFI 24/7 who can tell me WHEN and WHERE the bad storms are. Be nice, she is new!

Hey bloggers....i have to tell you about the cloud formation I saw yesterday all the while banging my head (figuratively)) against the windshield for not having a camera with me...oh shoot--as I type this i remember my CELL PHONE (banging head again)!! Anyway, we traveled north to Crown Point up I-65. Sun was out under a mostly sunny sky, but to the south/west/north there was a bank of clouds that were some of the neatest I have ever seen! I have seen snow banks in the sky before but nothing like this. It almost looked like a roll cloud. The top was white, bright white, then it got dark (sun was shining against it)with white streaks in it, like hail shafts. You knew, well I did anyway, it was streaks of snow but what a show it was. It cut the sky in thirds and was fascinating to watch. and I was driving, LOL! We did not drive into it but as we got closer to that mass of clouds it never lost that perspective of the shafts. Fascinating!

Mary Anne in Remington

Anonymous said...

Wow Mary Anne, what a sight that must have been for you!

I agree with your comment to the Picky Blogger. Too bad some have to be that way! As someone posted this is a friendly blog, let us please keep it that way.

I enjoy Stefanie, she does a great job, and winter wx is not easy to forcast. I feel very lucky that Stefanie as our A.M. Meteorologist!

She may have to prepare herself for a beating on this blog, like Mike received last winter, FOR THIS IS INDIANA, and mother nature!

Stefanie,please take all in stride!

Mike will be watching the 5:00 news for your forcast, Black Ice??? now that is a worry!

Keep warm all!

Teri in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

There is a difference between ENGLISH AND GRAMMER! there is however, english grammer, So get it right before you make lude comments!

Anonymous said...

or would that be LEWD???? I always use that word:)))) You tell me in english:_))))))))

Anonymous said...

Stefanie You do a GREAT JOB!! :-)
I agree with Teri, (She may have to prepare herself for a beating on this blog,) It seems the new ones miss one little thing and people like that will slam you every time!

Now lets all put the picky poster aside and get back to a nice blog!

It was sooooooo cold today the water in our pool was froze!

A Great day to just sit by the fireplace.....

Everybody Keep warm for the light wind will make for a cold wind chill!

Justin.

Anonymous said...

I agree Justin this is a friendly blog:) We just have to ignore, and to do what we love, watch the weather and look out for each other!

Teri In Laf.

Anonymous said...

Hey Justin, when do you sleep?LOL i noticed you posted early this morning :)

Teri

Anonymous said...

I just hit some of that black ice! pooling water on the road that is froze! I almost slid in to a car as turning a corner slowly.

be careful out there you cant tell what is water, and what is a coating of ice on the roads. Really you cannot see it!

Anonymous said...

I'M most likely up till at least
1:am sometimes 2 or 3:am finishing up some weather stuff! Learning about weather as much as i can and trying to put together my own forecast! So when I post it here you all will have the latest that I know! I'M Trying to get better at putting my own forecast together. And working on blogs! :-)

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

Are you doing a course on Line or learning on your own?
If you are doing on your own, might be fun to take a class. I would bet you would get an A++++

If you dont mind me asking, and if you wish not to answer I understand, do you go to school? I know this is a very personal question.

Teri

Anonymous said...

I am Home schooled.

I am going to try to take an online Meteorology class hopefully by Jan, 09,
So currently I'am on my own other then all the GREAT help from Mike,:-) He has helped me a lot!!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

Awesome Justin! good for you:)))!!! Keep on studying!

Teri

Anonymous said...

it is so cold out there
i cant wait until we can get some snow on the ground so it looks like winter

Anonymous said...

Thank you Teri, I will :-)

You stay warm it is going to be a cold one tonight.....I currently have a temperature of only 24.4* Degrees Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Justin

Anonymous said...

Teri...it was an AWESOME sight and I wish all of you could have viewed it with me! It was not an ordinary formation for sure. I REALLY miss spellcheck on here, LOL..I spend half my time RETYPING my errors, LOL!

well class, it is down to 23* here and I am off to dreamland, hopefully, I have caught that nasty junk that is going around and am flat miserable. I pray I can sleep tonight!

Take care, all!

MA in REM

Anonymous said...

I am there with you MA, I have the nasty junk that is going around as well.

Going to be a rough nights sleep for I have an ear ache, and cannot breath through my nose. I took a nap and my daughter woke me laughing telling me I was snoring:))

All stay cozy and warm, Justin go to bed early LOL!