The center of the storm system that is forecast to bring snow to Indiana over the weekend is still off the coast of California. Here’s an impressive, animated satellite view:

The northern Indiana office of the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the southernmost counties of its coverage area, from White County in the west to Allen County, Ohio, in the east. The watch also includes Van Wert, Adams, Jay, Wells, Blackford, Huntington, Grant, Wabash, Miami and Cass Counties, but not Allen County, Indiana or any counties to its north.

The watch indicates that heavy snow with accumulations of six to nine inches is possible south of a line from Monon, Indiana to Van Wert, Ohio late Saturday night through Sunday night. The snow might cause significant travel disruptions, according to the watch. See the latest full-text version of the watch.

Areas outside of the watch could get at least three inches of snow, with accumulation decreasing as one moves north. To learn how much snow is forecast for your specific location, go to www.weather.gov/iwx, enter your ZIP code and read the forecast that appears.

As always, small changes in the storm track or in other meteorological conditions could change what happens, but as of this morning, NWS meteorologists indicate that their certainty in their current forecast is 80 percent and growing. Still, if you have travel plans Saturday night through Monday morning, it would be wise to periodically check the websites listed above for any changes in the forecast.

If you live in or near extreme northeastern Indiana or north central Indiana and would like to become a trained, volunteer storm spotter for the National Weather Service (or update previous training), you have two opportunities to receive the training — one of which is tonight. See the infographic above for more information.

The National Weather Service has canceled its flood warning for the St. Mary’s River at Muldoon Bridge (South Anthony Blvd. Extended), including areas along the river in Fort Wayne. At 9 a.m. today, the river level at the Muldoon Bridge gauge was 13.9 feet (0.1 feet below flood stage) and falling.

At 8:33 a.m. this morning, the Allen County Highway Department reported that two roads remained closed due to high water:

• South County Line Road between U.S. 27 and Winchester Road.
• Marion Center Road between U.S. 27 and Winchester Road.

Parts of northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio could still see significant snowfall this weekend. But it’s still too early for National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists to forecast snowfall totals.

An Area Forecast Discussion the northern Indiana NWS office issued at 4:08 a.m. EST today indicated that a shortwave trough is expected to move east across the southwestern U.S. Saturday night, through the southern plains Sunday and into the lower Ohio and Mississippi Valleys Sunday night. A rather long period (30 to 36 hours) of snow is possible in the office’s area as this system moves through the plains and into the eastern continental U.S., which “could result in substantial snowfall” across at least the southeastern portion of the office’s county warning area (CWA) in this time frame. But computer forecast models continued to vacillate on the strength of the trough and location of heaviest precipitation, which means as of this morning, there was still too much uncertainty for any specific forecast, advisory, or watch.

The “county warning area” (CWA) in the information above refers to the 37 counties in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio that the northern Indiana NWS office serves. Below is a map that shows the CWA. As you can see, the reference to the southeastern portion of the CWA could include Fort Wayne, Huntington, Bluffton, Decatur, Hartford City, Portland, Van Wert, Lima, Ottawa, Paulding and other cities, depending on the storm’s track.

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Northern Indiana NWS county warning area (enclosed by dark red line)

I took the following photos at midday today, Feb. 26.

Here is the latest on the winter storm possibly headed our way Saturday late and Sunday. The system seems to be veering a little farther north in the latest couple of runs but I will tell you that moisture output is almost at about half of what it was yesterday.

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The Allen County Office of Homeland Security issued the following news release this morning:

Allen County Office of Homeland Security Supports National Severe Weather Preparedness Week March 2-8

The Allen County Office of Homeland Security is proud to support National Severe Weather Preparedness Week, March 2-8, 2014. Sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Severe Weather Preparedness Week is a nationwide effort designed to increase awareness of the severe weather that affects everyone and to encourage individuals, families businesses and communities to know their risk, take action, and be an example.

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