National Weather Service asking Hoosiers to prepare for potentially major winter storm

The National Weather Service is asking Hoosiers to prepare for a potentially major winter storm Wednesday – Thursday.

A rain to mix to snow trend is generally expected for most locations, snow is most likely north of the I-70 corridor, and ice impacts will most likely be greatest near I-70.

Clouds will pick up through the day on Tuesday, however, and so will a southwesterly breeze. Showers may enter the state along a front by the late afternoon and will persist overnight.

The messy weather will begin as temperatures drop on Wednesday and a low to the southwest saturates our atmosphere with Gulf moisture. At the same time, a strong high-pressure system in the Upper Plains will provide a blast of cold air to our region. The result will be a very heavy and messy mode of precipitation. Indiana may see snow, sleet, freezing rain, and rain concurrently throughout the day. This will make travel very dangerous, particularly in Central and Northern Indiana where wintry precip is the most likely. It will be important to plan ahead and perform any necessary travel ahead of this day.

Precipitation will gradually transition to snow across the state as we head into Thursday. Just how quickly will largely determine how much snow falls, but there is still a high degree of uncertainty with this.

Thursday morning could be messy with precip continuing at a steady rate. It may take until the end of the day for this system to truly exit the region.

An accumulation of ice and snow is of greatest concern, both of which may be significant.

Precipitation should end by Thursday night.