New month. Same stuff.
Heavy snow is expected over much of the northern half of Indiana Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for northern and central Indiana.
Tuesday morning will be dry but the center of the storm should pull out of the Gulf Of Mexico Tuesday afternoon. Our heaviest snow will fall from late afternoon into evening, with snowfall of up to an inch per hour at times. Snow could be mixed with sleet and freezing rain south of I-70, which will cut into snow totals.
Up to nine inches of snow may fall in the Watch area. The best chances for the bigger number will be north of Indianapolis. North winds could gust to 25 mph Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, which could cause blowing snow and some drifting of east-west rural roads.
Snow should pull away by midday Wednesday.
There is a chance of snow this weekend, and again in the middle of next week. Either one could bring some accumulation, but at moment heavy snow is not a threat.
The month we *just* finished featured 26.7 inches of snowfall. Only the months of January 1978, March 1906 and December 1973 rank higher since records began in 1884. BTW, that month alone exceeds the Indy seasonal average of 25.9 inches.
The month of the famed “Blizzard of ’78” is still a little snowier (and a little colder) than last month. The average Indy temp in January was 20.1 That’s 8 degrees cooler than average, and the coldest January since 1982. It ties for the 11th coldest January on record. We had the coldest morning in 20 years, and eight mornings below zero. That’s the also the most in 20 years.
Now – while the memory is fresh – imagine last month with about half as much heat. THAT is why Hoosiers still talk about the (dramatic sting) Winters Of The Late 70s. The average temp in Indy for January 1977 was 10.2 degrees. That was the year the Ohio River in southern Indiana froze over.
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