FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – January started off on a quiet note, and at the time I viewed it with suspicion. This month is one of our most active of the year and the coming days will only put a finer point on that reputation.
Firstly, be sure to clear off your sidewalks and driveways before temperatures in the teens return tonight!
Thursday promises to be seasonably cold with highs in the 20s, but the real arctic sting won’t arrive until Thursday night as lows tumble into the single digits, only warming a few degrees Friday before falling again to around -5º Friday night.
Given the harsh cold and wind chill values around -20º, a First Alert Weather Day remains in effect Friday.
We’ve also added two more First Alert Weather Days: Saturday and Sunday.
A gargantuan weather system is expected to leap out of the Southwest and charge across the South and Mid-Atlantic Saturday, potentially clipping the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region in the process, all while reinforcing cold air filters in.
What this means for us is that Saturday looks cold with wind chill values near -10º, but the system of interest is expected to bump north into our area sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Then, assuming the storm track doesn’t deviate too much, light snow is expected to continue throughout the day Sunday.
Since it will be a dry, powdery snow, accumulation is expected to be more efficient than usual and harder to melt. It is too soon to say exactly how much snow we can expect, though a very conservative estimate would be in the 2-4″ range. Much of the forecast guidance today would lean toward double that, or more, but we want to see another round of data (the next 24 hours or so) before biting down on the heaviest totals.
The system moves out Monday, though cold air will remain with highs in the teens.
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