Morning Snow Breaks Out With Winter Weather Advisory

Mr. and Mrs. Clause enjoy the nice dusting of snow this morning in Lafayette

A lot of times in these overrunning situations your snowfall and wintry weather can come a few hours early. The easiest and quickest way for the atmosphere to create precipitation is when you have warm air advection or warm air being lifted or forced over the heavier colder air at the surface.

Despite the snow coming in a couple hours early we are still on track with our expectations of this system. We will keep our 1 to 2 inches of snow and sleet before we switch over to freezing rain and rain. The inch of snow would likely be the top of the range for much of Tippecanoe County with only isolated amounts near two inches of snow based on the latest trends. A winter weather advisory is in effect until 4 a.m. This means travel with be hampered but we did not get the upgrade to a winter storm warning as expected which means things will not and should not get as bad as last week, especially with the freezing rain. Just remember to do everything very carefully and slowly if you are out on the roadways this afternoon and tonight.

The good news is we could see a lighter band of precipitation with the freezing rain which should hold our amounts close to .10" or less as forecasted. Most of our freezing rain and rain will be between 6 p.m. and midnight.As temperatures go above freezing late tonight it will turn to all rain. By morning all of our temperatures should be in the middle 30s with heavier rain overspreading the area.

If you are traveling South a freezing rain advisory continues for Indianapolis. The Interstate 70 corridor could be hit the hardest. Try to avoid traveling in these areas. Be very careful as those areas could easily see closer to the .25 of ice accumulation and we all know how much trouble that can cause after what happened here last week.

If you are heading to Chicago and southern Wisconsin today travel is really not recommended if you have not left yet. My family has put its holiday travels to Cheeseland on hold until at least tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Chicago will see at least 4 to 6 inches of snow and sleet. Farther north in Wisconsin the cheeseheads could easily end up with 9 or more inches of snow. More on this with a special report coming from WISCONSIN later today. I will also check in with you from the Badger state later tomorrow on my family holiday vacatioin. Yes, I will be having a White Christmas!

If you are traveling west through Illinois conditions will be similar as Lafayette with the worse of the road conditions coming in by mid to late day and tonight as freezing rain and sleet mixes in.

Rainfall will be close to an inch with this system before it changes over to another band of snow Wednesday afternoon and evening. That is right! Both models are still showing some snow accumulations just in time for Christmas Eve night here at home. Keep hope alive! I will keep you updated on our White Christmas chances as we get closer.

One developing concern of mine: As we head into the holiday weekend will be flooding on area rivers and streams. The Kankakee River is already flooding due to heavy amounts of precipitation and ice jams. We will have to watch this situation very carefully especially if we do get another heavy rain producer for Friday into Saturday which could give us another inch or more of rain along with thunderstorms.

Bloggers take it away! Please send pictures if you can. Here is another one of our quick, slick coating of snow from the Prangley house.