Gearing up for powerful winter storm Thursday night through Saturday

 

ABC57 First Warning Neighborhood Weather Forecast

Tuesday, December 20th, 2022

After cloudy and quiet weather tonight and Wednesday, our powerful holiday winter storm arrives on Michiana's doorstep. We will start out Thursday with a mixture of rain and snow. Some freezing rain is possible at times but does not look to be a major concern at this point. Travel should be possible before 6pm on Thursday. After that, a flash freeze is possible, which could make roads icy and dangerous. Precipitation will change over to snow Thursday night. Most of the area will experience near-blizzard conditions on Friday, with heavy snow and winds gusting over 40 mph, making travel dangerous, if not impossible at points. Most of the area should expect around 8 inches of snow by Friday night, with higher amounts expected closer to Lake Michigan. However, when it comes to blizzard conditions, snowfall totals are irrelevant. Try your hardest to avoid traveling on Friday. Along with all of this, feels-like temperatures could dip below -25 on Friday. Lake effect snow will tack on several more inches of accumulation in the snow belts on Saturday. Even away from Lake Michigan, blowing and drifting snow could still be a concern, especially for the first part of Saturday. Snow should wrap up on Christmas morning. Highs on Christmas might not make it into the double digits. 

Tonight: Becoming cloudy. Low 23.

Wednesday: Cloudy. High 32.

Thursday: Rain/snow. Changing to all snow at night. Flash freeze possible at night. High 36.

Friday: Heavy snow and strong winds. Dangerous travel likely. High 10.