Residents of the East Coast weren’t the only ones dealing with piles of snow Tuesday. (As much as 16” fell in interior New England and Boston was hit with 8.5” increasing its seasonal total to 78.1”—the 6th snowiest since 1920). Heavy lake snow squalls swept into north-central Indiana and southwest Lower Michigan much of the day. By late evening, 12” had fallen at Buchanan, Michigan and 11.9” covered nearby Niles. 11.0” was down at Granger, Ind. South Bend, where visibilities dropped under a quarter mile earlier in the day amid 30+ m.p.h. gusts, sat beneath 6.5” of new snow. Snow intensities had dropped there by late in the day thanks to a minor windshift to the “NW”—rather than the NNW. The change in direction slashed the “fetch” (distance traveled by the wind) over Lake Michigan. But, winds may alter direction again Wednesday, increasing lake-effect snowfall and forcing it to shift west.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
