Indiana in the Eye of the Tiger for Another Week

It turned into a beautiful day yesterday in Lafayette with only light breezes waving the red, white, and blue. Today's main weather worry will be stronger southwest breezes between 10 and 20 mph that will cause some blowing and drifting snow. A light dusting of snow could also cause slick spots around the area by late today and tonight. Thank you John Allen for this invigorating picture.

What started out as a tame winter has certainly changed. Indianapolis just had their 6th biggest snowstorm on record with 12.5" of snow. This was only 3 inches less than the blizzard of1978 . It tells you want kind of pattern we were in. Of course we did not have all the wind and the snow and the Lafayette was let off very lucky. That foot of snow could easily have been us. Portions of the Arkansas had 3 inches of ice which would have been a little more than we saw here in Lafayette since the great ice storm of 1991 when we had chunks of ice the size of cars falling off our WLFI television tower. You see Old glory above with its rich history and that includes wild weather. At one time yesterday 70% of the mainland USA had weather watches or warnings and MILLIONS were without power. Our Super Bowl storm will go down as one of the most devastating storms to hit our country since the Super Storm of 1993. That is the storm I will always remember that brought snow flurries to my home in Jacksonville, Florida preceded by hurricane force wind gusts of 76 mph.

Mary Best was kind enough to forward this picture to us on behalf of G. Schubert. Check out this story below and how we can count our blessings here at home.

Well, the final total in the Carbondale area is 4" of sleet (I've never seen that much sleet!), followed by 1/2" of freezing rain, and topped off with 4" of snow. What a sandwich! There are about 13,000 households without power in So. Illinois, most are father south of me. Not as bad at Kentucky though. Needless to say, I did not get to work today. I could get out of my driveway, but not up the lane. I have attached a picture of my stuck Jeep(storm chase vehicle), my snow covered lane, and my deck. I got the deck cleared off enough to get to the hot tub, which I will need after a long day of shoveling.

The amazing part is that we are not even close to the end game yet in this stormy pattern. I have chances of rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, and even more accumulating snow in the forecast for six of the next seven days. Yes, we are in the eye of the tiger as nature roars our way with not one but two potent jet streams across our great land.

We have the BAJA EXPRESS coming from the Pacific Ocean and this is meeting the POLAR EXPRESS or the nickname given for the Polar jet stream and subtropical jet streams. The subtropical jet was nearly non-existent for most of the first part of our winter and it is the reason we have tripled our seasonal snowfall so far in January. We have already had 11.1 inches of snow this month which is already about 4 inches above average and counting. Here are the official totals from our storm and you all were terrific about sending in pictures and numbers. You made a difference, a real difference before, during, and after the storm and as I told Chris McNew of Tipton, I think we all need to start our own weather channel and take it national. I would take all of you with me, well almost all of you if you know what I mean. :) Okay, drum roll please! Here were the totals from our biggest snowstorm since February 1st!!

We had that big range in snowfall we talked about. I did want to point out a surprise though and that was Peru in Miami County that had 6 inches of snow. Nature always amazes me! Here is what it looked like out there. John Allen snapped another great picture of his daughter that experienced snow and sledding for the first time. She certainly looks like she loves the snow and I think she may be a future meteorologist. I used to smile like that out in the snow when I was that young.

The Allen family just moved here from Texas. Welcome to Indiana and enjoy our beautiful state. We also have what we call Hoosier hospitality to go along with the great weather. This came about because of all the storms that we make it through year in and year out and helping your neighbor and caring about others is instilled in the way people go about their lives here. It is the Indiana version of southern hospitality which I think you will really enjoy! It more than makes up for all of our bizarre weather and tornadoes. :) The kids were not the only ones having fun in the snow today. How about them dogs. Justin New sent in a picture of Pickles who could not get enough of the snow.

This is on average our snowiest week of the year so we are calling it the dog days of winter in honor of pickles and the other dogs that love to get out and play in the snow. Nature is on cue and we are not done yet with plenty of bark and bite in your forecast. Get out there and make sure those sidewalks are cleared and your areas around the mailbox cleared for the mailman. Also take breaks if you are shoveling snow because only 20 minutes of shoveling 5 inches of snow is like running a 5k or 3.1 miles. I took a break yesterday and will probably feel it tomorrow. Be smart and take care of yourself. Shovel now before it is too late! I am tracking a little bit of everything and will have more answers on nature's big dogs on our doorstep in the forecast coming up. Thanks again for the pictures. I will try to get a little sleep. LOL