With between 3 and 4 inches of snow on the ground at 1:00 PM, I’m not expecting much more than an additional inch of accumulation through the rest of today and into this evening. This places Ross’s forecast of 4 to 5 inches right on the money.
As the snow ends, the second phase of this winter storm will take over as winds increase significantly later today and tonight. At 1:00 PM, winds were southeast at 3 mph at Eppley, northwest at 22 mph at Columbus, and northwest at 35 mph, gusting to 40 mph, at O’Neill. This is what we’ll be dealing with later this afternoon, tonight, and on Thursday. Several inches of powdery snow are on the ground now, so the winds will create a lot of blowing and drifting snow, and potential white out conditions in open areas.
Wind chills are the other big concern through the end of the week. Lows should bottom out in the teens below zero on Thursday Night and at around 20 below zero on Friday Night. Highs on Thursday and Friday will probably not exceed zero degrees. The gusty winds will produce wind chills as cold as 35 degrees below zero, especially Thursday Night and Friday Morning. Winds will die down on Friday Night, but it still won’t take much to produce wind chills of 30 degrees below zero again. Some moderation in temperatures should finally occur toward Sunday.
Willy
