Heavy snow to arrive in central Indiana on Sunday; Doubledigit snowfall totals possible
Jan 04, 2025
INDIANAPOLIS — After a calm and quiet Saturday, all eyes turn to the next weather maker coming into view Sunday. Plus, any snow that does fall will not be melting anytime soon because of the extended cold stretch that follows. Winter Weather headlines extend across several states, with blizzard warnings for parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Let's dig into what Hoosiers can expect on Sunday and to open the work week on Monday...
Winter Headlines
Winter Storm Warnings have been posted and go into effect Sunday morning. See the graphic below for when the headlines kick in.
South Central IN: Winter Storm Warning at 7 AM
Central IN: Winter Storm Warning at 10 AM
North Central IN: Winter Weather Advisory at 1 PM
The start times above paint a pretty good picture of our expectations for snowfall totals, too. Any spot that's under a Winter Storm Warning will receive more snow with areas in the Advisory receiving less.
Timing
Areas SW of Indianapolis will see snow first near daybreak. We anticipate the activity to overspread central Indiana throughout the morning and early afternoon.
The approximate timing for it to reach the Indy metro looks to be late morning to lunch (10 AM to Noon). The steadiest snow will try and change into a mix with sleet at times thanks to a quick burst of warmer air just above the surface. If this happens, it would be late Sunday night.
Once cold air overtakes that brief burst of warmer air, any mix will change back to snow. The activity overnight will gradually taper to a few flurries/light snow showers by late Monday morning.
Snowfall Potential
All of this snow is coming from a very dynamic low-pressure system. Indiana will be on the cold side of it. Hence why the main form of precipitation will be snow. Our neck of the woods is also north of where most of the sleet/ice will be. When all is said and done...
Areas in south central Indiana (south of I-70) will receive higher snow totals. In these spots, 6-10" is forecast.
But a line extended through Bloomington, Columbus, Bedford, Greensburg, etc could approach double-digit snowfall 10-12" possibly if enough snow-banding takes place.
Once you get north of I-70, we anticipate a sharp cutoff (north of I-70) in totals. 1-2" in our far northern counties with 3-5" in Indy's northern collar counties.
The computer forecast models, even less than a day away from the storm are still not agreeing on snowfall potential. For Indianapolis, check out the spread below. Needless to say, we will have a widespread range of snow totals when this system exits.
This is going to be a heavy, wet snow event at first. It will be a very easy packing kind thanks to this system having lots of moisture with it. Sleet will also likely mix in with the snow later on, especially south of Indianapolis. Then, winds will pick up late Sunday to early Monday where drifting snow is entirely possible as the system loses moisture.
NOTE: Sleet always has an impact on snow totals. If enough sleet does occur/mix in, snow totals will be lower.
Impacts
With snow rates of 1-1.5" an hour in spots, roads will be less than ideal to travel on. This will be the case in spots south where heavy snow is favored. When the system begins to lose some moisture and that snow turns drier, reduced visibility levels are also possible thanks to blowing snow. Winds will pick up to 30-35 MPH gusts.
Cold follows the snow
Any snow from Sunday and Monday won't be leaving the grounds. With a big dip in the jet stream and a taste of polar air, we'll be cold for days. Highs in the teens to near 20° Wednesday and Thursday with single-digit or sub-zero low temperatures. Wind chill values will be well below zero, too on Wednesday and Thursday morning.