Nature Snaps Back With Gator Weather!

Recently you have been sending out “bites” for warm weather pics. See how this “grabs” you. In January, visiting with a friend in Florida, I’m sitting on a beach at Sannibel-Captiva Islands Nature Preserve in 70-degree sunshine. After about an hour of sitting quietly watching the sea birds come and go, this 9-1/2-10 foot alligator hauls up from the swamp and proceeds to bask in the sun a mere five feet away. Due to my profession, I speak fluent alligator and asked if he would kindly oblige to this photo op. As I left, he opened one eyelid and grunted “You Snow Birds.”

Mark Denhardt

Tippecanoe County Exotic Animal Sanctuary

Thanks Mark! This really grabs my attention. As a fluent speaker of gator you would know that alligators have actually been known to bark before big storms or hurricanes. What exactly are they saying? Are they giving a forecast or is it a form of communication to warn the others to get to their safe spots? Let me know. I do know it was so cold in Florida last night that apparently alligators were seen turning directly into winter boots. This reminds me of like those old Hoosier almanacs that have stories of chickens being frozen in their tracks during huge temperature drops. Here in Lafayette the arctic high pressure that brought our lows down to 8 below zero in Burlington on Thursday morning moved to the southeast taking the core of the cold air with it which has more bite than some of those big gators down in the Sunshine State. Amazingly, we are actually waking up to temperatures warmer than portions of Florida this morning. Our temperatures could actually reach the 60s by the middle of next week which is actually what you would expect in North Florida this time of year.

This means get ready for Gator weather and the good news here at home is you will not have to worry about dodging any alligators out there, just long lines at the car wash. It does look like our snow will be gone by Sunday so put away the winter boots and get out the golf clubs! Nature does act like a rubber band a lot of times. Over the past two weeks there have been many days where we were running 20 degrees or more below average. Now think of our weather like a rubber band. The farther you stretch the rubber band, the more it wants to snap back into place, and snap it will. It can snap back with a lot of force or violently at times like the alligator you see above, but the good news is this weekend I think we will be able to get out and enjoy temperatures running 20 or more degrees above average by Saturday without nature's bite. Rainfall looks scattered and light with less than .10" thanks to warm high pressure ridging into the area.


But, do not let your guard down. It is Indiana. When it warms up too quickly this time of year it never totally comes without a price to pay. My biggest concern this weekend would be patchy dense fog that could move in tonight as a much warmer, Pacific air mass moves over our frozen ground. The melting snow will add extra moisture to the air reducing visibilities to less than a quarter mile at times. Many areas still have between 4 inches to as much as 8 inches of snow on the ground. That is a lot of extra moisture to work with in the atmosphere. Make sure to stay alert and slow down tonight driving to all the great high school basketball games. The real concern I have would be next week with possible strong storms and flooding. Tonight make sure to join me for the latest on this. You can see thunderstorms firing up on the map below over Missouri on Monday.


These stronger storms could move our way by Wednesday so make sure to stay posted by checking back here on the weather blog and tuning in tonight.

Blog Question of the Day: When will our next chance of a snowstorm be?

This may be sooner than you think and I will be back to answer this question. Don't put away those sleds just yet and if you like the warmer weather get outside while you can. Nature has plenty of bite left in it for us this winter.