Forecasters expect another snow storm to hit northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio Tuesday night and Wednesday. According to the graph above, which the northern Indiana National Weather Service office issued at 1:48 p.m., There’s a 50 percent or better chance of at least three inches of snow in the area that office covers.

While some uncertainly still exists in the forecast — and the forecast could change with small changes in the track of the storm — forecasters currently expect most of the snow to fall south of approximately U.S. 6.

To stay up to date on the forecast, or to see snowfall forecasts for your specific location, visit www.weather.gov/iwx.

The net control station (NCS) team for the IMO SKYWARN Quadrant Two Net on 146.88 MHz has made some slight operational changes as we enter the 2014 severe weather season.

The main change affects when directed SKYWARN nets will begin. Effective immediately, a directed net will begin any time a tornado warning is issued for any part of Allen County, Ind. In addition, if a liaison from a county SKYWARN net requests a directed quadrant net, a directed net will begin. Finally, SKYWARN NCS have the authority to begin a directed net at any time they deem it necessary. In general, an NCS will begin a directed net anytime the amount of spotter traffic or expected traffic warrants disrupting normal repeater operation.

IMO SKYWARN quadrant map. Counties in quadrant two (green) may relay reports via the quadrant two net on the 146.88 MHz repeater in Fort Wayne.The “IWX” in northeastern Kosciusko County represents the approximate location of the northern Indiana NWS weather forecast office.

Please remember that when a directed net is in session, all stations are requested to refrain from transmitting on the frequency except when they have observed something that meets National Weather Service (NWS) reporting criteria (or when the NCS requests information from them). During a directed net, stations should not transmit information obtained from broadcasters, announce the activation of sirens, etc. as such transmissions are not first-hand reports that meet NWS criteria.

Because of the second minor change in procedures, stations should not plan to use the SKYWARN net as a primary means of obtaining information from the NWS (e.g. warnings, special weather statements, etc.). With today’s technology, even spotters in the field have multiple other means of receiving such information, including portable NOAA weather radios (or amateur radios tuned to the NOAA frequency), broadcast radios, mobile Internet connections and smartphone apps. For this reason and to keep the frequency as clear as possible for spotter reports, net control stations will now severely limit the reading of NWS products on the air, especially during directed nets. Expect, for example, to hear little more than, “A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for northern Allen County, Indiana.” If you want the details, such as storm location and movement, obtain them via other means. If you haven’t been paying attention to the frequency and want to know why you’re hearing sirens, turn to broadcast or Internet sources, rather than requesting such information during a directed SKYWARN net.

Of course, when SKYWARN is in standby mode, all stations are welcome to transmit at any time and for any purpose, as long as they keep transmissions short and leave long gaps between transmissions so a spotter can easily break in.

Download an updated copy of the quadrant two net operations manual.The manual gives more details regarding the directed net and standby modes, including the preferred way to check in with reports.

Remember that in the past year, the 146.88 MHz repeater was unreliable (mostly when the weather was warm). As in the past, should the repeater develop problems during a SKYWARN operation, SKWYARN will switch to the 146.76 MHz repeater.

Mark Frazier, incoming meteorologist in charge, National Weather Service northern Indiana office (Grand Forks Herald photo)

The National Weather Service (NWS) has appointed Mark Frazier to the position of meteorologist in charge (MIC) at its northern Indiana forecast office in Syracuse, Ind. Frazier will succeed Mike Sabones, who retired at the beginning of 2013.

Frazier is currently MIC at the Grand Forks, N.D. office and has nearly 24 years of experience with the NWS. Frazier began his career in weather forecasting as a meteorologist with the NWS Office in Pittsburgh in 1991, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from The Ohio State University in 1989. He was promoted to a general meteorologist position in 1994 and promoted to senior meteorologist in 1999, both at the Memphis, Tenn. NWS office. In November 2003, Frazier became warning coordination meteorologist at the Shreveport, La. office and in 2007, he was promoted to MIC in Grand Forks.

Frazier has been directly involved with several significant weather events during his career, including nor’easters, tornado outbreaks, hurricanes, blizzards, and record flooding of the Red River of the North. While Frazier was at the Shreveport office, it received the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bronze Award after Hurricane Rita of 2005. From 2009 to 2011, the Grand Forks office received the Department of Commerce Silver and NOAA Bronze awards for its handling of major to record Red River of the North flood events.

Frazier’s official reporting date at the northern Indiana office is May 4

Daily Weather Map from 1957

Guest post by Michael Lewis, KG4KJQ
National Weather Service, Northern Indiana

When I was the science and operations officer in Jackson, Ken. and as the meteorologist in charge in Hastings, Neb., I used to do all kinds of digging through the historic archives for “significant” weather events.

You might find this interesting and there may be others who would as well. This is a must have for every history buff.

U.S. Daily Weather Maps
Publication History

The U.S. Signal Office began publishing weather maps as the War Department Maps on Jan. 1, 1871. When the meteorological activities of the Signal Corps were transferred to the newly-created Weather Bureau in 1891, the title of the weather map changed to the Department of Agriculture Weather Map. In 1913, the title became simply Daily Weather Map. In 1969, the Weather Bureau began publishing a weekly compilation of daily maps with the title Daily Weather Maps (Weekly series).

These maps can be downloaded from the NOAA Central Library: http://www.lib.noaa.gov/collections/imgdocmaps/daily_weather_maps.html

To view/print the maps requires the installation of a free browser plug-in. http://www.caminova.net/en/downloads/download.aspx?id=1

Michael Lewis, KG4KJQ is warning coordination meteorologist at the northern Indiana forecast office of National Weather Service, Syracuse, Ind.

See the latest Winter Weather Advisory, issued at 9:03 a.m. EST.

See the Indiana county travel advisory map, as of 10:05 a.m. EST

See the latest Indiana road condition map.

See the latest snowfall reports from the northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service.

The northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a Winter Storm Watch for three additional counties this afternoon: Allen County, Indiana and Paulding and Putnam Counties of Ohio.

Blue area: Winter Storm Watch.

The new watch is in effect from 10 p.m. EST Saturday until 7 a.m. Monday morning. The watch indicates that the included counties could receive from six to 10 inches of snow Saturday night through Sunday night, with locally heavier amounts possible.

The NWS had previously issued a winter storm watch for more southern counties for the same period.

Here’s a link to the latest verbatim winter weather statements from the NWS.