Monday, January 5, 2009

Storm Comes at Us in Pieces Keeping Accumulations Light


We knew another rough period of wintry weather was on the way. The good news is the latest models are showing most of the heavier precipitation staying well south of Lafayette. This means the amount of snow and ice should remain on the lighter side. Todd Weber of Lafayette sent in this picture on his way home and no it was not caused by all the carpoolers. :) Our atmosphere is very dry and with highs only reaching near 30 degrees today this tells me that this will in fact keep most of the ice and snow away. This storm's mo
isture is having a hard time moving our way and we got this incredible paint brush effect across the sky as a result. The sky holds many clues to what is heading our way and this is another good example.


One other big obstacle this storm will not overcome is the lack of phasing between the northern and southern branch. Last week we talked about this having to happen for us to have a big storm. But instead this phasing will not take place until Wednesday or after this activity is past Indiana. Timing is everything and for snow lover's it is not on our side. We should have plenty of more opportunities coming our way in January and February and when you here me say "phasing is taking place" you can get your shovels out. But this time around I do not see it. I circled the two pieces of energy I am watching that stay distinctly separate. We wi
ll get a few snow flurries on Wednesday from that second piece of energy. So this system is coming at us in pieces which will keep the main system farther south and spare us from a major storm. No matter what you hear or have been reading I still see Lafayette ending up with a good 25 inches snow this winter and we will talk more about this on the weather blog this week.


Right now I have Lafayette in the one inch or less category with areas of White County and the far north in the one to two inch range BUT THIS COULD BE PUSHING IT with not much moisture at all to work with.
I think an inch or less will do for most areas just be careful heading south toward Indianapolis where they will have a little more moisture and periods of light snow and freezing rain that could cause problems on the roadways. There is a winter weather advisory from Montgomery County southward so allow extra time in the morning on Tuesday. Take a look at all the advisories.


The purple areas show the huge areas of winter weather advisories and the green areas show all the flood warnings and watches. The great news out of all this is our area rivers will not be impacted by this storm with less than .20" over most areas. You can certainly make out the main storm track which stays south of Lafayette. I will not give this storm an official name as a result but may make some sort of compromise. Check back on the blog to see what that may be and of course tune in tonight for more on this storm.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the heads up. Glad the heavier ice and snow may miss us.

Anonymous said...

I WANT MORE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

03:23 PM EST Mon-Jan-05
The Weather Service has issued a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
Indiana counties
BARTHOLOMEW, BOONE, BROWN, CLAY, DAVIESS, DECATUR, GREENE, HAMILTON, HANCOCK, HENDRICKS, HENRY, JACKSON, JENNINGS, JOHNSON, KNOX, LAWRENCE, MARION, MARTIN, MONROE, MONTGOMERY, MORGAN, OWEN, PARKE, PUTNAM, RUSH, SHELBY, SULLIVAN, VERMILLION, VIGO

Anonymous said...

Looks like Tippecanoe Co. is right on the line or in the middle of this mess!

Katie said...

Would rather have the snow than the ice!

Anonymous said...

Hi all! thanks for the update Mike!
Was a pretty day, we went for a walk after work, the sun feels nice!

Glad to hear that there might not be much ice! Still could be enough to make it slick:)

Teri in Laf

Anonymous said...

I did not mean to put a smile behind the slick part!

Anonymous said...

Oh do I agree with you, Katie! No more ice, please!

I do have an appt in Laf tomorrow morning early and am wondering what, where, when the precip will start. I am not brave on wintery roads.

This has been a beautiful day!

Later...

MA in REM

Anonymous said...

Hey Justin, what are the models showing now for frz rain? I know you are on here late into the night so will keep checking!

MA in REM

Anonymous said...

Hey Mary anne the models are showing less in the way of freezing rain! Around a tenth inch if that.
And the more north you go the less in the way of snow and ice! It is just like mike said the low pressure is tracking to far to the south.

But I would rather have that then ice! But I think the ice will be low! As well as snow only around an inch or less!

((As of 4:53pm))

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

we shall see!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Justin. I am such a chicken on bad roads and for me that means anything close to slick, lol. I already plan to reschedule in the morning if there is any green on radar!

thanks!
MA in Rem

Anonymous said...

Mary Anne, I dont blame you, As Mike stated on the news, Laf. is right on the line of this system, I wouldnt want to take the chance either.

Justin, sounds like you have been busy watching the radars, keep up the good work! Looks like there will be another system working it way to us over the weekend.

Teri

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy you all that we're only supposed to get an inch!

Tynisha-Southside

Anonymous said...

Hi Bloggers!!!
I was wondering if anyone got to see the magnificent sunset tonight, it was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately I didnt have my camera with me :(
I was out in the rural area after the sun had set. The moon had a very large ring around it, as I was looking at the moon I had observed that it looked like the rays of the sun was spread out through the sky. I have never seen this before (no clouds in the sky) and hope you have got to see this. I am going back outside to see what I call a southern aurora (no such thing) but anyways thats what I titled it. Hope it is still there if you have not got to see this. If street lights are in your way hold something up to block the light and enjoy.

Richard

Anonymous said...

I stepped out and checked and the ring around the moon is no longer there and the rays are gone.


Richard

Anonymous said...

where is this snow and ice at on the radar?

Anonymous said...

It is still in the making for when it gets to us! But if you look down around Arkansas, Texas, And Louisiana, You will see all the Rain / Icy mess! Still with the way things look at this time the system as it makes its way to us will be tracking more south which would keep us on the lighter side of the Snow Rain And real slight chance of Ice!

It really is a system to keep watch on! Even if it is a little bit of snow or ice it can still make way to a lot of problems on the roads!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

Hey guys and gals...

Been missing you all. We have been in and out of town. I love that there are so many chances for snow! We need a good snow. I need to see my yard covered!!!

Can't wait to see what this week holds for us.

And Happy New Year, friends...I know it is late, but better late than never!

Annie in Attica

Anonymous said...

Well things are not looking to bad! Looking like Lafayette and areas around are only looking for around an inch or less of snow! Ice is really low of a Tenth inch or less! Which that is GREAT!! But the more south you go the worse the roads will be! Even if it is only around a Tenth inch of ice it can cause a lot of problems on the roads so allow yourself more time!

The more north you go the better! Mary anne I don't think Ice will be much of a problem for you today!;) I'M sure you are happy to hear that!:)

And if you go all the way up near Gary, IN then you should be looking for only a few snow flurries or a Trace of snow! However I do thing we will luck out on this system for the fact most of the icy stuff will stay south! Even if that means not much snow this time then I'M glad! We really don't need the ICY MESS!

I will check in through the day! Have a good one! And you can start looking for the winter weather to start sometime around 9:am this morning as you head out!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

I am happy to hear that Justin, about the ice. Unfortunately the ground is covered with snow here which means the roads have a dusting, too. I see on radar out of Indy there is frz drizzle south of Laf. I think I will reschedule that appt! Just not worth it.

MA in REM