Massive rainfall totals are likely to accumulate across much of California by Wednesday as a powerful, moisture-laden storm system lingers just off the coast. Snow—perhaps accumulating 5 feet—will fall above 7,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
As much as 26" of snow fell near Michigan City, Indiana Sunday--coming down at the rate of 2-3" per hour there at the height of the storm--and whipped into drifts of 3 feet by powerful winds. While much of the northern Indiana/western Lower Michigan snowbelt received snow, it was a small area centered on western LaPorte and eastern Porter County which was hardest hit. Explosive instability, created as bitterly cold arctic air came in contact with the warmer than normal, ice-free Lake Michigan waters plus a full fetch wind, which traveled the length of the lake into the hard hit area, were behind the Sunday mega-snow. Follow this link to pictures of the snow from Michigan City, Indiana, from meteorologist John Dee's website--with thanks to John for the heads up on this. Overnight cooling over the fresh snowpack led to subzero temps Monday morning. New lake snows and a fresh round of bitterly cold arctic air are in store for the Indiana/Michigan snowbelts later this week.
Some of the heavier snow totals:
Michigan City 26.0"
Westville 20.0"
Wanatah 12.0"
LaPorte 9.5"
South Bend Airport 8.0"
Berrien Springs 8.0"
Benton Harbor 7.8"
North Judson 6.0"
Rolling Prairie 4.8"
Snow reports: Courtesy National Weather Service COOP observers
Tom Skilling-WGN-TV Meteorologist
