Freezing Drizzle Will Give Way to Bitter Wind Chills, Blowing Snow, & Icy Roads

A special thanks to Brow that sent in a picture of Monticello's winter wonderland. It is beautiful but be careful on the roadways. This nice coating of snow was perfect timing for many in Monticello. The Monticello Christmas parade was this afternoon and it certainly was looking and feeling like Christmas with this nice candy coating of snow.

I am checking in with the latest on the snow and even freezing drizzle reported around the area. Meteorologists do not get any off days this time of year. Yes, we love this stuff but your safety comes first! The good news is the clipper brought us mainly snow with most areas including Lafayette receiving close to one inch. Unfortunately some freezing drizzle mixed in as warmer air aloft was pulled up ahead of the clipper along with a slot of drier air.

Now that the clipper is moving well east of us it will now drag down some more arctic air and plenty of wind for tonight. So even though most areas are reporting mainly wet conditions as of 3 p.m. on the main roads they will once again turn icy in a hurry this evening. I am glad WLFI gave out tons of warm coats at the CFRC today. They will certainly be needed.

The Main Concerns for our Saturday night:

Most areas will be near 10 for overnight lows and if we clear enough look for some single digits. Road ice does not work well when it gets this cold. The west-northwest wind will also be gusty at 15 to 25 mph causing our snow to blow and drift on what appear to be clear roads creating icy spots. Indiana is the only state I have lived in where one inch of snow can drift to six inches so keep this in mind tonight if you are traveling. You need to be attentive on the roads at all times. Take your winter survival kits because wind chills tonight will drop from near zero to ten below zero. Protect the pipes and bring in the pets. It will be a three dog and cat night!

Tuesday Storm Update: More Rain than Snow

There have been big changes in the storm track last night. The one model I place a lot of trust in when it comes to forecasting Lafayette snowstorms has shifted our low pressure track about 120 miles farther to the northwest. The low pressure track will move from near Oklahoma City to St. Louis and eventually through the Lafayette viewing area on Tuesday. This would bring a ton of warm air into our region from Texas and Louisiana. The snowstorm and ice threat for us has gone way down as a result. Areas from Chicago north and west will have to monitor this much more closely. This includes my relatives in southern Wisconsin. This looks like their snowstorm and not ours. They will also have to watch out for some nasty ice accumulations. I would rather have all rain than an ice storm that is for sure. So bring on the rain.

The European model did show this possibility last night of it being mainly a rain event and with our American and Canadian models trending its way I have no choice but to call for mainly rain for Lafayette. How can we go from being so cold to even think about calling for rain in such a short time? Well a wind speed of 120 mph at 36,000 feet from the southwest changes everything! As of right now I have an inch of rain possible over Lafayette on Tuesday with highs in the 40s. On the backside of the storm we could see some light snow accumulations with another blast of cold air. Our next snow chance would come later next week and early weekend (Dec. 12th-13th) with another blockbuster storm by December 15th. Will it be rain, snow, or ice? It is too early to tell for sure. But again it will bring heavy precipitation so circle your calendars.

Chance of White Christmas: 70% (trend---down 10%) It is a little lower do to changes in weather patterns at the North Pole, Eastern Pacific Ocean and Alaska. We need to hear from Jim our Alaskan weather blogger and he can fill us in on the changes he is seeing. We really are all connected.

Prang Snow Forecast for December 10" to 15"--(trend down 5 inches) due to rain storm next week. This is like taking a huge hit from a linebacker but do not worry snow geese it was by no means a knockout blow.