2017 Ends Colder And 2018 Opens Even Colder

NOTE: Cold Air and Winds will combine to create low wind chills next few days. NWS has issued a Wind Chill Advisory effective 7pm Saturday, December 30 to 7pm Tuesday, January 2nd. Frost bite and hypothermia can occur if precautions are not taken. Make sure you wear plenty of layers including a coat, hat, and gloves.

Good Evening! Temperatures this morning dropped to 0 degrees and over the past week we have saw our coldest temps not only of the season but some of the coldest in 3 years. This will only continue, for at very least the next week. I would love to see our temperatures climb into the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, or even 70s but we have awhile to go before that happens again. As of 7pm, we are now 172 consecutive hours below freezing which started at 3pm on Christmas Eve. Speaking of Christmas, the high was only 25° this year making it our coldest Christmas in 13 years when the high was only 20 in 2004. On December 27th, we dropped to -3 in the morning making it our first time sub-zero since -1 on January 7th. It was also our coldest in 34 months since -6 on February 24, 2015. Today's high temperature climbed to only 11 degrees which ties a record for coldest maximum temperature. This 1976 record has been in place for 41 years.


As for snow, we have received 3.8" so far this season which is 4.2" below normal to date (8"). 2" fell on December 30th. A lot of this snow we have received hasn't melted but we won't see much additional snow over the next week. By the way, we did pick up 0.5" of snow this morning. Temperatures are too cold for the chemicals in road salt to activate going forward the next few days which is useless right now. Give yourself extra travel time as you venture out next few days because poor road conditions makes it slippery or even icy out there in spots.


TONIGHT/TOMORROW
Clearing skies will allow for a sunny Monday but looks will be deceiving in terms of temperatures. Tonight we will once again drop below zero as we ring in a New Year. The forecast is for -9. It will mark our coldest New Year's morning since -12 was recorded 60 years in 1968. The high temperature in the afternoon will not get out of the single digits. The forecast is for 3 degrees. This is close to the record for the coldest maximum temperature which is 2 degrees set in 1928. It will mark the coldest open to a New Year in 90 years and the 2nd coldest open to a New Year on record. Temperature records in Indianapolis began nearly 147 years ago in 1871. Wind Chills could make it up to -25 degrees.


TUESDAY
As high pressure continues to be the dominant feature to start the week, sunshine will continue as we remain snow free for a second day in a row. Again, no improvement with temperatures. In fact, we may see our coldest temperature in nearly 48 months since -14 was recorded on January 7, 2014. The forecast for Tuesday morning's low is -12 which could tie our record low temperature for January 2nd of -12 set 131 years ago in 1887. We should rebound nicely to a high around 10 degrees. Wind chills could once again make it up to -25 degrees.

REST OF WEEK
A cold front will pass on Wednesday which will offer up our next chance for snow. At this distance, we would likely see accumulations less than one inch. There won't be much happening on Thursday and Friday except the reinforcing cold air. Mother Nature will only tighten her grip this week with this arctic air mass parked over a big portion of the U.S.



NEXT WEEK
Latest modeling data is convincing us that this cold snap will end but this won't last very long. In fact, this warmer setup will likely last less than 48 hours. Certainly much needed though. Speaking of warmer weather, could we be mentioning rain? We would indeed have to climb above 32 degrees first which won't happen for maybe another 160 hours. Models are saying the setup Jan 7th-9th time frame will require some attention as a storm system tracks through the Ohio Valley region. Could be a combination of rain, snow, and ice. Specifics are unknown at this time. More information will be provided later this week. One thing is for sure, a trough will be on its heels and when the this storm clears the state, we'll be left with arctic air again in its wake.


Should we go above 32 degrees after the first week of January, which looks likely, we will end our streak of freezing temperatures. At this distance from where we are and where we are going, it appears we will likely have atleast a 14 day streak of temperatures below 32 degrees. By the way, the record streak is 36 days which ran from Dec 28, 1976 to February 2, 1977.