Winter Storm Is Coming!

I tried my hardest to wishcast winter away. I even sent a tweet out last week that I did not foresee any wintry weather for the next 16 days! At the time, no data supported this... but God had other plans! Here are my thoughts as of 8:30 PM on Saturday night:

• I'm sold on a winter storm hitting Region 8 tomorrow night.
• This should happen while most people sleep Sunday night into Monday morning.
• Roads will be impacted.
• I do expect school closings.
• I do NOT expect many power problems because it should not be freezing rain.
• I expect to sled on Monday with my wife and kids. :)
• Here's the PANICOMETER:

Here's the challenging part of this forecast: How much??? First off, sleet and snow accumulate differently. If you missed my video I posted last year on this problem, click here and take a listen. I feel confident that we will have wintry weather. I feel confident that when you melt down whatever falls from the sky, that it will be the equivalent to 0.50"-0.70" of rainfall. That does not sound like a lot, but 0.70 of liquid (rain) with the ratios that we should see tomorrow translates to about 10.5" of snow! Don't get carried away just yet though! If it falls as sleet, it translates to MUCH less. If we stay snow the entire time, we could have quite a snow storm. However, I expect this to start as sleet. If you watch the video I linked above, it talks about taking 50 cotton balls and 50 BBs and putting them in a jar. Which takes up more space? That's the problem. Snow accumulates faster with the same amount of moisture.

Here's what we are thinking with now about SNOWFALL:

Now, those places SOUTH of us that will see a dusting to 2" of snow may get significant icing and sleet! Don't think that they dodge the bullet! They will likely see a WORSE situation!

Stay tuned! I'll be on duty on Sunday with live updates on Region 8 News at 6:00 and 10:00.

I'm going to bed and I hope to go to Church tomorrow and clear my mind of this winter storm for a few hours!

Have a great night!

Ryan