Still a bit warm with cold air intrusions.

Today is Thursday, December 29, 2017. Temperatures will be slightly warmer than normal until January 4, 2017. What is mean by slightly warmer? Well, our normal average temperatures for this time of year are 37 for the high and 21 for the low. The forecast temperatures for Thursday, January 5, 2017 (or one week from today) are 28 for the high and 13 for the low. I think we will continue to see this warm front-to-cold front set up where we get rain changing to snow. That has been the dominant patter for Indiana. I don't see anything major on the horizon yet.

We'll see a high of 39 degrees today and a low of 26 degrees.

Warm and rainy for Christmas.

Temperatures begin moderating today and by late week we will see high temperatures near 50 degrees. Several rain storms look to pass through our area. A cold shot returns on January 4, 2017.

Thunder Sleet?

I heard a loud rumble of thunder last night around 9:00pm but I just couldn't believe it. How could that be possible? So, I dismissed it as a car wreck near by. Then I found these by Bam and Tds out of Indianapolis.

@8:30pm Saturday 12/17

The NWS made a pretty good call on issuing alerts. The temperature drop and the approaching line of ice and snow seemed like it would arrive before 7:00pm. The original Winter Weather Advisory alert was for 7:00PM 12/17 to 7:00AM 12/18. The start time was then moved to 9:00PM 12/17. I noticed the ice just beginning to stick on my car and the sidewalk around 8:30PM. The current temperature in Bloomington is 31.5 degrees. If we are lucky, the ground temperature is lagging behind due to today's earlier warm spell which put us above freezing.

@3:38PM Saturday 12/17

The current temperature is 36 degrees. There's no way we will see temperatures above 50 degrees as foretasted earlier. The new high is for 41 degrees which is far more reasonable. Check out this advisory map. It has everything from snow, to ice, to rain, to thunderstorm and even tornadoes.

12/17 @9:00AM

The current air temperature is 34 degrees. Temperatures may be closer to freezing at the ground. Be careful. The sidewalks around town and on Kirkwood have ice on them.

Temperatures will warm up today to about 50 degrees. After that the wintry mix returns tonight. Due to that, the NWS has placed Monroe county and surrounding counties under a winter weather advisory from 7:00PM Saturday 12/17 to 7:00AM Sunday 12/18. If you have anything to do today, try and get it done before 7:00PM.

The pattern looks the same for the rest of the month.

1. Several rain-to-snow-like systems passing through or near the Ohio valley.
2. Storms bring brief warm up before they arrive and a quick cool down after they leave.
3. Snow accumulations pretty much on the lighter side.
4. Before storms arrive, overrunning warm air over cold air has the potential to produce icing.
5. Temperature will continue to bounce around.

What the weekend storm means for the Bloomington area.

Saturday's high temperature will be in the lower 50's. Can you believe it after this morning's low of 5 above? During Saturday night between 9pm and 11pm the rain will switch over to sleet and snow. It all depends on how fast the front arrives. The earlier it arrives, the more concern I have about us seeing a "Flash Freeze". A flash freeze means that the rain water on the ground freezes very quickly; not instantly but within a few hours. So, if you are out driving around between 12am and 2am, you should be very careful.

The skies clear out on Sunday and Sunday night we go down into the single digits again. The good news is that next week the temperatures will be closer to normal; highs in the mid to upper 30's with lows in the 20's.

Weekend weather for December 17 & 18.

This event is looking a lot like the event of last weekend with a few exceptions. Keep in mind that this storm is more than three days away so a lot could change. The way I see it, we get a light snow or mix set up early Saturday morning changing to all rain. As the low tracks off to the north east, another low tries to develop and fails but is just strong enough to give us some wrap-around snow showers.

It's snowing in Bloomington Indiana.

It's our first snow of the Winter 2016-17 season! There won't be much, perhaps an inch and then it's all over by noon. Our average first snowfall is between December 15th and 17th so we are a little ahead of schedule.

Forecast for Sunday 12/11/16 is back to rain again.

I hope people get it now. Don't trust the models so far into the future.

Be extra careful using weather apps on smart phones and tablets.

I'm sure everyone has their favorite weather app installed on their device. Remember that forecasts become less reliable when looking more that three days into the future. So, check this out! This is what I found on my Weather Underground App; 6 - 10 inches of ice on 12/16 & 12/17. HA!

The cold front is on its way!

@4:40pm in Bloomington it was 36 degrees with overcast conditions. A cold front will move through and temperatures will plummet. Thursday night's low will be 19 degrees and Friday night's low will be 18. There's no snow in the forecast until Sunday 12/11.

The current radar shows snow right over us but it's not reaching the ground.

I don't think we will see any snow tonight. A lot of people got this call wrong, even some of the big guys.

It's Wednesday and people are already talking about a snowstorm on Sunday. Just yesterday the forecast was for a rain/snow mix changing to rain and changing back to snow. Today it is all snow. What will it be tomorrow?

Do we get warmer after December 15th?

Temps trend slightly above normal for the days after December 15th.

Case in point!

In the last days of November people were excited about a snow storm developing between the 8-10th December. Now it seems to have vanished. This is why you don't put so much faith in  models 7 to 10 days out.

The NWS does give us a 30% chance of snow Wednesday night.