When will the wind, snow and frost hit Indy tonight? | Weather influence

INDIANAPOLIS – Fasten your seatbelts, friends! Indiana is facing an unpleasant weather disaster ahead of a highly advertised arctic cold front that is bringing a variety of weather influences this evening. This forecast blog details these impacts, with the latest modeling information, an update on timing, and how long this latest cold snap will last.

From a temperature perspective, today is the “warmest” day since Thanksgiving and the first time above freezing since last Saturday (November 30). Unfortunately, due to the stiff breeze, our highs in the lower 40s will never feel that warm.

Please note that we will have windy conditions throughout the day as gusts are already near/over 30 mph and winds will only increase until the Arctic front arrives much later in the evening.

It is still difficult to narrow down a specific time for a specific location because modeling is often too slow for shallow cold air events. Anytime after 7 p.m. and before midnight is fair game. Effective immediately, we are setting the hours of operation for FROPA (Frontalpassage) in the greater Indianapolis area between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. and between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

This means that the front and its effects will clear areas more quickly in the northwest (Lafayette between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.) and later in the southeast (Columbus between 10 p.m. and midnight). Expect weather and road conditions to deteriorate rapidly as the front passes through your area.

Ahead of the front in the early evening, temperatures will be well above freezing, with a mix of rain and snow showers. These showers will wet the roads and that will be crucial to what happens in the post-front environment overnight.

There will be a series of heavy snowfalls near and just behind the Arctic front, and some “gusts” may not be ruled out. This is very often the case when very cold air enters quickly. While the localized snow amounts will not be too heavy (0.50 to 1.5 inches) during short-term heavier snow bursts, the combination of rapidly falling temperatures will cause the moisture from the evening showers and freshly fallen snow to ice quickly.

This creates a “flash-freeze” condition on the roads behind the front and driving conditions become slippery in seemingly no time. We advise everyone to check road conditions before traveling and be aware that road conditions can go from dry to snowy in less than a few football fields.

The poor and slow travel conditions will continue overnight into the Thursday morning commute, resulting in a longer commute for some and possible school delays and/or cancellations as there will be little warmer on deck tomorrow.

Other notable impacts from this front include strong wind gusts in excess of 45-50 mph, causing brief whiteout conditions with heavier blows of snow, potentially knocking down some trees and allowing power outages. You may want to charge electronics and be prepared for possible failures on such a cold night.

And it will actually be cold. Temperatures will drop well into the low teens by sunrise Thursday morning, with biting wind chills ranging from -10 to near zero. Either dress properly or limit your time outside to midday or later afternoon on Thursday.

The combination of cold air advection and upper air energy should keep isolated severe weather and/or snow showers to a minimum through mid-morning Thursday. However, it is possible that they will last into the afternoon (similar to Black Friday and this Monday) and worsen road conditions for the evening commute as well.

There is a little less confidence in this part of the forecast, but we all wouldn’t be surprised if we were still seeing snow globes on Thursday afternoon.

Friday remains seasonally cold, but this weekend will be noticeably warmer, with Saturday highs around 40 degrees and Sunday highs around 50 degrees. Keep in mind that these temperatures, following the subfreezing wind chill, will make it feel about 50 to 60 degrees warmer than the needle-like cold we will experience tonight and Thursday morning.

We will update this blog later today as the front lines approach the state.