Indiana’s Weather For Today

HEADLINES
– Sub Zero wind chills this morning and tomorrow morning.
– Accumulating snow Wednesday evening…around an inch in central Indiana.
– Temperatures remain much below normal through the week. Nothing above freezing.

TODAY’S MAP

NWS TECHNICAL DISCUSSION

Winter has returned with a vengeance and shows no signs of letting
up for much of the upcoming week. Today will provide a breather
after the active weather over the weekend as an expansive high
pressure sliding down the east side of the Canadian Rockies noses
its way southeast through the Upper Midwest and into the Great Lakes
and Ohio Valley. The high will play a substantial role in our
weather over the next few days...including how far north the snow
will get with the midweek storm system set to track through the
Tennessee Valley. More on that in the Long Term section below.

The lingering flurries will be out of the area within the next hour
or two leaving mainly clear skies over the region and a bitterly
cold start to the day. The clearing is temporary only as mid and
high level moisture over the Plains quickly spreads east courtesy of
a strong upper jet. After some sunshine this morning...clouds will
thicken once again into the afternoon with the potential return of
lower stratus as well with model soundings highlighting a
strengthening inversion within the boundary layer.

An axis of deeper moisture aloft will align along a strengthening
baroclinic zone over the Plains later today that will eventually
expand east into the lower Ohio Valley tonight...undercutting the
aforementioned high pressure to our northwest. Cloud coverage
will only thicken further as this expands into the region by this
evening with the possibility for scattered flurries with subtle
isentropic lift as well. The baroclinic zone will be pushed south
overnight in response to the high pressure as it shifts into the
northern Plains. This should force flurries into southern counties
early Tuesday with even a few light snow showers over the lower
Wabash Valley where forcing aloft will be a bit stronger. Skies
will remain mostly cloudy through daybreak Tuesday with a stiff
northerly wind continuing.

Temps...today will be the coldest day of the month by far but also
the first of a period of bitterly cold days likely to persist all
week. Highs will remain in the teens north of I-70 with low to mid
20s further south. Despite the clouds...lows tonight will drop into
the single digits over much of the forecast area. Minimum wind
chills will approach if not briefly slip under -10F across the
northern half of the forecast area early Tuesday. May need to
eventually introduce a Cold Weather Advisory but will continue to
handle via an SPS at this time.

&&

.LONG TERM (Tuesday through Sunday)...
Issued at 237 AM EST Mon Feb 17 2025

Tuesday Through Wednesday.

There is increasing confidence in the next shot of snow moving in
Tuesday night as a broad upper level trough interacts with Gulf air
surging northward to bring a period of snow to much of the Mid-
Mississippi Valley. Ahead of the main accumulating snow, a weak and
dissipating trough may bring a few flurries/light snow showers to
southwestern Indiana Tuesday morning. The main period of
accumulating snow is expected late Tuesday night. While exact
details remain uncertain this far out, there is pretty good
agreement in the ensembles for light accumulating snow as far north as
Indianapolis with the potential of 2+ inches towards Vincennes.
Models have begun to tighten the northern end of higher QPF as was
previously discussed could be the case in earlier discussions which
keeps the higher probabilities of 4+ inches more into southern
Illinois and Kentucky.

With the very cold antecedent conditions, snow ratios will likely be
quite high in the 16-20:1 range which could work in favor of the
higher snow totals. Some additional light snow is possible Wednesday
night as the back end of the system moves through, but don`t expect
much in terms of additional accumulations beyond a half inch to
possibly an inch towards Muncie.

Thursday Through Sunday.

Another surge of colder air will move in behind the exiting
Wednesday system with a secondary Canadian low moving in from the
northwest which will bring periods of light snow/flurries along with
the coldest temperatures of the week as the upper level flow remains
cyclonic. Highs Thursday will likely only rise into the teens with
another night of single digits expected Thursday night into Friday
along with wind chills approaching -10.

While conditions are not overly favorable for efficient radiational
cooling, a fresh snowpack and a very cold airmass will still support
overnight lows falling into the single digits to near zero, with the
coldest nights likely being Wednesday night through Friday night.
Depending on the northern extent of snow, Cold Weather Advisories
may be needed, but confidence remains low that wind chills will drop
below -10 for more than a couple of hours. Temperatures will begin
to slightly warm going into the weekend but still will remain below
normal with the pattern favoring continued northwesterly flow into
next week which will keep temperatures below to much below normal.

INDY SEVEN DAY FORECAST
Today: Morning sun and afternoon clouds. High 20.

Tonight: Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 5.

Tuesday: Partly sunny. High 18.

Tuesday Night: Clouds increase. Snow showers possible south of Indy. Low 12.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. Morning snow showers possible south of Indy. High 21.

Wednesday Night: Snow showers. Around an inch of accumulation. Low 5.

Thursday: Becoming mostly sunny. High 18.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear. Low 10.

Friday: Mostly sunny. High 27.

Friday Night: Mostly clear. Low 13.

Saturday: Partly sunny. High 33.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 19.

Sunday: Partly sunny. High 39.

NWS CHARTS FOR TODAY/TONIGHT