Snow cover and high temperatures

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4:00
Local nonprofit celebrates 21 years of providing grief support...
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1:33
Notre Dame tops Louisville at home
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2:11
Winter weather advisory heading into Sunday morning, plunging...
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1:14
Wintry mix Saturday night; temperatures start to fall Sunday
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1:03
Local flag football team gets national treatment
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0:17
electric buses are coming to town
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3:29
Senate Bill could expand Four Winds Field, $5 million yearly...
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1:26
Another round of wintry weather, Saturday night
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0:54
Three suspects arrested in connection with homicide of Leon Johnson
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2:33
New studies show increase in nicotine use among youth
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3:14
Local author speaks on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
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0:20
Coloma Kindness Club crafts Valentine’s Day cards for friends...
Even though the heavy snow is over with, we will still feel the effects of snow cover on our high temperatures today. On a typical sunny day, with no snow on the ground, light and heat from the sun can easily make it all the way to the ground, allowing the heat to build at the surface, and increasing our temperatures during the day. But, with snow cover, most the sun's light and heat is reflected and bounces back through the atmosphere, which helps keep our temperatures on the frigid side. Why is that?


Well, the ability for a surface or object to reflect is called its albedo. It's just a number on a scale from 0 to 1. Snow has an an albedo of 0.9 while normal, dry ground has an albedo on 0.25. This means that snow does a good job at reflecting but a poor job at absorbing. The exact opposite is true for dry ground.
You can easily see the drastic difference in temperatures across the state of Indiana. South Bend, and the rest of Northern Indiana, should only see highs in the mid to upper 20s. Meanwhile, farther south, Indianapolis will hit a high of 34. Not only because they are farther south, but they have 0" of snow on the ground this morning, allowing them to warm above freezing.

Don't worry fair weather fans, our warm-up is on the way. We'll just have to wait until Wednesday and Thursday.