Winter storm update

Here’s an update on the winter storm as of 1 p.m. Sunday, January 5.

Early this morning, the northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service published the infographic below, which indicates that most of its forecast area (including Fort Wayne and Allen County) was still forecast to receive up to 14 inches of snow:

At 11:50 a.m., the NWS issued an updated Winter Storm Warning and Wind Chill Warning. You can read the complete text here. Here’s the gist of it:

 * HEAVY SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. SNOWFALL RATES
   OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE EXPECTED THROUGH EARLY THIS
   EVENING. TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 14 INCHES ARE EXPECTED.

 * GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH WILL DEVELOP EARLY THIS
   AFTERNOON AND INCREASE T0 BETWEEN 20 AND 30 MPH BY THIS
   EVENING. WIND GUSTS TO 35 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE AT TIMES. THIS
   WILL CAUSE SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW TONIGHT INTO
   MONDAY WHICH COULD PRODUCE NEAR WHITE OUT BLIZZARD CONDITIONS
   AT TIMES.

 * TEMPERATURES WILL DROP DRASTICALLY TONIGHT WITH LOWS BETWEEN
   7 BELOW AND 20 BELOW ZERO. DEADLY WIND CHILLS BETWEEN 30
   BELOW AND 45 BELOW ZERO CAN BE EXPECTED TONIGHT THROUGH
   TUESDAY.

You might have wondered why there wasn’t more snow on the ground when you got up this morning. Here’s a tweet from the NWS that explains:

Its been snowing all night in our northwest but slow to develop in east. Heavy snow still on way. Latest forecasts at http://t.co/QFs72S9OfN
— NWS Northern Indiana (@NWSIWX) January 5, 2014

Some counties, including Allen County, have issued advisories that recommend against or restrict travel. Here’s a set of tweets from Allen County government:

Allen County and the Cities of Fort Wayne and New Haven have issued a winter weather travel WATCH ADVISORY effective at 1 p.m. (1/3)
— Allen County INfo (@allencountyinfo) January 5, 2014

A watch means that conditions are threatening to the safety of the public. (2/3)
— Allen County INfo (@allencountyinfo) January 5, 2014

During a travel WATCH ADVISORY, only essential travel, such as to and from work or in emergency situations, is recommended. (3/3)
— Allen County INfo (@allencountyinfo) January 5, 2014

You can see a color-coded map of such advisories for every county in Indiana by going to this page on the website of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

For road conditions, there’s a continuously updated map on the website of the Indiana Department of Transportation. Below is a sample from 1 p.m. Blue indicates roads in fair condition and purple indicates “difficult.”