Holy Mess Update: Tuesday Afternoon
Warm air aloft changed the precipitation type to sleet sooner than expected, and the bulk of the precipitation stayed to our north, keeping snowfall accumulations down in the forecast area. However, even just a bit of ice can cause major havoc, and I think that's what wigged a lot of districts into cancelling classes today.
Anyway, looking forward...
The current lull in precipitation will crank back up around 6 or 7pm tonight, with the steadiest precipitation from 9pm through late Wednesday morning.
Current radar indicates a lull until this evening. The giant area of moisture currently giving a buttload of snow to Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois will make things nasty for us here overnight...
Precipitation type will be primarily dependent on when the temperature rises above freezing. We'll see sleet and freezing rain for the bulk of the precipitation, which will still cause the massive icing and hazardous conditions I talked about in my previous post.
I think we'll see temperatures above freezing from about 10am to 5pm Wednesday, so as the storm pulls away, the precipitation will change to rain and wash away a bit of the mess. On Wednesday evening as the temperature plummets to the low 20s and the winds kick up, we could see some dangerous refreezing and even a quick snow shower or two. So be careful driving Wednesday night.
Thursday looks to be frigid with a high below freezing and a low (overnight into Friday) approaching the single digits.
We could see some snow showers on Saturday, but as of now it doesn't look like anything to be worried about.
Next good chance for snow is Tuesday 2/8 into Wednesday 2/9, as well as Saturday 2/12 into Sunday 2/13...
School scheduling meter:
Probability of at least a delay Wednesday, 80%
Probability of cancellation Wednesday, 60%
Probability of at least a delay Thursday, 65%
Probability of cancellation Thursday, 35%
Probability of at least a delay Friday, 35%
Probability of cancellation Friday, 15%
Stay tuned for further in-storm updates!