The back side of the area of low pressure that encompasses nearly the entire half of the eastern US will swing through the Region today and early Saturday. This will bring on and off snow showers and a few snow squalls, or bursts of briefly heavier snow and graupel (those dippin-dot-looking balls of snow). A rumble or two of thunder cannot be ruled out in some of the heavier squalls. Keep in mind, not everyone will see the heavy bursts of snow, but the potential is there with our peeks of sun and the very cold air aloft.

In terms of accumulation, this will NOT be a big deal. The concern would be for some of those brief squalls to put down a quick coating of snow that could be temporarily problematic on area roads. Best to be prepared for quickly changing conditions if you’re out and about this afternoon or evening, but again, it’ll be hit-or-miss. This will not be a widespread issue. Notice the hodge-podge accumulation forecast from this morning’s HRRR model:

Winds will continue to be on the gusty side today, especially in some of our snow showers. Winds could gust over 40 mph at times, otherwise a 15-25 mph general wind can be expected. Temps will be on the chilly side as you’ve probably noticed. Highs will remain steady in the low 40s at best with a quick temp drop into the 30s with any snow showers that pass through your area. Here are the projected wind gusts this afternoon:

We then turn our attention towards our first real “clipper” system of the season that will quickly dip southeast out of Canada. Model guidance now agrees on the low pressure passing right over or just north of the Region. This would bring a passing area of snow (mixed with rain in spots) late Saturday into early Sunday.

We’d then turn on the lake effect machine for primarily Porter and La Porte counties Sunday into Sunday night. We’ll finetune the details in our next update!