Good afternoon! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Thanks for checking out today’s hazardous weather blog, brought to you by Mr. Quik Home Services out of Indianapolis! You can rely on Mr. Quik’s team of professionals for all your heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical needs in your home! With Christmas next week and family gatherings planned, make sure your furnace keeps running! You can have peace of mind by checking out Mr. Quik’s $89 heating tune-up special! This will reduce expensive repairs with your heating system and increase its efficiency! Read more about it at mrquikhomeservices.com. Be sure to “LIKE” Mr. Quik on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MisterQuik/. Wanted to take a look at how snowfall is running for the month compared to normal, and take a look ahead.
It’s no secret December has sneaked by with almost no snow for much of the region. Snow has also been absent from the typically active lake-effect areas. In fact, most areas saw more snow in November than this month. Here is a look at how far behind snow is running this month. Note South Bend, Indiana now over a foot below normal! Snow removal companies are hurting.
Checking out the month-to-date snowfall totals, most cities have seen less than 1″ this month.
How are things looking ahead? If you’re wanting any significant snow in the next couple of weeks….the pattern ahead is not looking great. That said, remember winter has just begun and things can change in a heartbeat around here. Currently, our friends in the central and northern Plains are getting hammered with a blizzard. This is now the third blizzard/major snowstorm to impact the Plains this season. Meanwhile, the Ohio Valley is firmly in the warm sector of this large storm system….with rain.
Check out the swath of blizzard and winter storm warnings in the Plains. Wind advisories and flood watches across the southern U.S. This storm is bringing a wide range of impacts.
As of early this morning, a foot of snow has already fallen in parts of the Dakotas over the past 24 hours!
Portions of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota have another 6-10″ to get through before everything winds down Friday.
For verification, we have had this storm targeted for a few weeks…..and back on the 20th we sent this map to our clients showing where the greatest risk of heavy snow would set-up with this storm. Overall, about as good as it gets for 7 days out.
For our official snowfall forecast for this event, we have that available in our daily local forecasts! We have local forecasts for the central and northern Plains states, as well as the Ohio Valley! If you are a business relying on weather, our forecasts and on-call service can make your life MUCH easier. Inquire for our forecast packages today at bamwx.com/contact-us or [email protected]. Get 2019 started off right!
Moving on, once this storm exits we see another storm take shape early next week. A hyper-active subtropical jet brings a moisture-laden system from the southern states to the Ohio Valley. At the same time, you do have very cold air and energy dropping south from the northern stream….but the data remains consistent that that will just miss the opportunity to phase. The reality would be another rain-storm as the strong southwest jet aloft pumps in warm air across the Ohio Valley, with the cold air arriving 12 hours too late to get anything more “exciting.”
By the middle of next week, a strong blast of arctic air is taking over the country, with the active subtropical jet likely to bring some additional energy across the southern states by the middle of the week. I do think this will need watched for a possible wintry event somewhere in the South, but far from a slam dunk. Could this work further north? Possibly, but I think the strong push of cold air will keep this wave more suppressed. A southwest flow aloft with low-level cold screams a southern ice threat.
Looking further ahead, we see signs of a split flow pattern developing (similar to what happened mid-December)….this would not be good for snow risks in the Midwest. We break down the issues in the long-range pattern in our daily analysis…which is based primarily on research and not chaotic model run flips. Inquire at [email protected] or bamwx.com/contact-us!
Do you plow snow in the winter, and tired of depending on free weather sources that change on a dime? You can inquire for our forecasting services by going to bamwx.com/contact-us or e-mail [email protected]! We’d love to help your snow-removal business this winter season with accurate forecasts, 24/7 on-call service, and certified snow totals! Have a great day!
-Nathan Kitchens
