Severe thunderstorms producing damaging winds, hail, and a few tornadoes are expected through Tuesday across parts of the central Plains and lower to mid Missouri Valley. Heavy to excessive rainfall could produce flooding across portions of the Ohio Valley into the Central Appalachians through Tuesday. Read More >
Overview
A cold air mass settling across the Great Lakes region set the stage for a significant lake effect snow event Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. The lake effect began in a rather disorganized fashion Thursday evening with several weak banded of lake effect snow with embedded cellular characteristics. After midnight, a more dominant single lake effect snow band developed which brought intense snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour for a brief time. Storm total snowfall amounts with the lake effect snow ranged from 6 to 12 inches with a few spots reporting totals in excess of a foot. The snow showers dissipated Christmas afternoon.Snow/Ice
Photos & Video
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| Heavy snow in South Bend, Photo courtesy of Tom Coomes | Heavy snow in South Bend. Photo courtesy of Tom Coomes | Heavy snow southeast side of South Bend. Photo courtesy of Nick Deranek | Snow in Mishawaka, IN. Photo courtesy of Nick Kovatch |
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| Snowfall in North Liberty, IN. Photo courtesy of ChicagoMWeather (twitter) |
Radar
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| 0.5 base reflectivity from KIWX from around 7pm Thu. Not the disorganized multi-banded cellular nature. Brief visibility drops to under 1/2 mile were noted underneath stronger cells | 0.5 base reflectivity from GRR radar from approximately 1am to 3 am EST Friday morning. Note development of smaller smaller scale circulations embedded in the band. These were associated with periods of very heavy snow. | 0.5 base reflectivity from KIWX radar shortly after 3 am EST with dominant single band and several mesovorts affecting southwest Lower Michigan into far north central Indiana. |
Storm Reports
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
1044 PM EST FRI DEC 25 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0500 AM SNOW 1 WNW BUCHANAN 41.84N 86.39W
12/25/2020 M6.0 INCH BERRIEN MI COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION MI-BN-5 BUCHANAN 1.3 WNW.
0505 AM HEAVY SNOW NILES 41.84N 86.25W
12/25/2020 M7.0 INCH BERRIEN MI BROADCAST MEDIA
TOTAL SNOWFALL THROUGH 430 AM EST.
0506 AM HEAVY SNOW MISHAWAKA 41.67N 86.17W
12/25/2020 M5.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN BROADCAST MEDIA
TOTAL SNOWFALL THROUGH 430 AM EST.
0520 AM HEAVY SNOW BUCHANAN 41.83N 86.37W
12/25/2020 M8.8 INCH BERRIEN MI PUBLIC
REPORT VIA TWITTER.
0630 AM HEAVY SNOW NILES 41.84N 86.25W
12/25/2020 M8.2 INCH BERRIEN MI PUBLIC
REPORT VIA TWITTER.
0700 AM SNOW 1 WSW FAIR PLAIN 42.08N 86.48W
12/25/2020 M7.6 INCH BERRIEN MI COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION MI-BN-13 ST. JOSEPH 1.5
SSE.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 1 S ROSELAND 41.70N 86.25W
12/25/2020 M8.5 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN CO-OP OBSERVER
CO-OP OBSERVER STATION SBSI3 SOUTH BEND.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 1 E INDIAN VILLAGE 41.72N 86.21W
12/25/2020 M6.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN BROADCAST MEDIA
REPORTED VIA TWITTER AT ABC57.
0700 AM SNOW 2 ENE GULIVOIRE PARK 41.62N 86.22W
12/25/2020 M4.2 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-SJ-58 SOUTH BEND 4.5 SE.
0700 AM SNOW 3 WSW GOSHEN 41.56N 85.88W
12/25/2020 M0.9 INCH ELKHART IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-EL-39 GOSHEN 3.0 WSW.
0730 AM SNOW NEW CARLISLE 41.71N 86.50W
12/25/2020 M8.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN CO-OP OBSERVER
CO-OP OBSERVER STATION NCLI3 NEW CARLISLE.
0753 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 SW ROSELAND 41.70N 86.27W
12/25/2020 M12.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN PUBLIC
RECEIVED VIA TWITTER.
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW SAINT JOSEPH 42.10N 86.49W
12/25/2020 M11.0 INCH BERRIEN MI TRAINED SPOTTER
SNOW CONTINUES TO FALL.
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 SSE STEVENSVILLE 41.99N 86.51W
12/25/2020 M9.0 INCH BERRIEN MI COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION MI-BN-2 STEVENSVILLE 1.7
SSE.
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 NE GEORGETOWN 41.75N 86.22W
12/25/2020 M8.1 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN TRAINED SPOTTER
.
0800 AM SNOW 2 NW OSCEOLA 41.68N 86.10W
12/25/2020 M4.5 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-SJ-26 MISHAWAKA 3.9 ENE.
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW 1 ESE GEORGETOWN 41.72N 86.20W
12/25/2020 E8.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN BROADCAST MEDIA
VIA TWITTER.
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 SW LA PORTE 41.59N 86.73W
12/25/2020 M4.2 INCH LA PORTE IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-LP-7 LA PORTE 1.6 SW.
0800 AM HEAVY SNOW 3 NNE FISH LAKE 41.61N 86.52W
12/25/2020 M4.5 INCH LA PORTE IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-LP-73 MILL CREEK 1.9
NNE.
0800 AM SNOW 1 WNW JIMTOWN 41.64N 86.04W
12/25/2020 M3.0 INCH ELKHART IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-EL-36 ELKHART 4.8 SW.
0815 AM SNOW 2 SE JUNO LAKE 41.79N 85.95W
12/25/2020 M1.0 INCH CASS MI COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION MI-CS-11 CASSOPOLIS 9.0
SSE.
0830 AM SNOW 3 NW GOSHEN 41.60N 85.88W
12/25/2020 M1.5 INCH ELKHART IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-EL-57 GOSHEN 2.8 NW.
0850 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 NE GULIVOIRE PARK 41.64N 86.22W
12/25/2020 M7.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN BROADCAST MEDIA
REPORT VIA TWITTER.
0900 AM SNOW BARRON LAKE 41.84N 86.18W
12/25/2020 M6.8 INCH CASS MI COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION MI-CS-5 NILES 3.5 E.
0900 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 ENE GRANGER 41.75N 86.11W
12/25/2020 M4.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-SJ-46 GRANGER 1.8 ENE.
0920 AM SNOW 2 N MISHAWAKA 41.70N 86.17W
12/25/2020 M7.5 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN PUBLIC
M 7.5 INCHES.
0930 AM HEAVY SNOW 2 ESE LA PORTE 41.59N 86.68W
12/25/2020 M2.5 INCH LA PORTE IN COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION IN-LP-45 LA PORTE 2.3 ESE.
1200 PM HEAVY SNOW 4 SW GRANGER 41.69N 86.19W
12/25/2020 M7.5 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN BROADCAST MEDIA
STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.
1220 PM SNOW 2 NW SOUTH BEND 41.69N 86.29W
12/25/2020 E10.5 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN BROADCAST MEDIA
VIA TWITTER.
1225 PM HEAVY SNOW 3 SSE FAIR PLAIN 42.04N 86.44W
12/25/2020 E12.0 INCH BERRIEN MI PUBLIC
MEDIA RELAYED VIA TWITTER.
1230 PM HEAVY SNOW 4 WNW ROSELAND 41.74N 86.31W
12/25/2020 E15.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL. REPORTED VIA TWITTER.
1250 PM SNOW 4 N SOUTH BEND 41.73N 86.27W
12/25/2020 M10.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN PUBLIC
.
0115 PM HEAVY SNOW 1 SE SHOREHAM 42.04N 86.49W
12/25/2020 M10.0 INCH BERRIEN MI TRAINED SPOTTER
.
0115 PM HEAVY SNOW GEORGETOWN 41.73N 86.23W
12/25/2020 M10.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN PUBLIC
.
0230 PM HEAVY SNOW 1 WSW NILES 41.83N 86.26W
12/25/2020 M11.0 INCH BERRIEN MI MESONET
MESONET STATION NILM4 0.7 SW NILES.
0300 PM HEAVY SNOW BERRIEN SPRINGS 41.95N 86.34W
12/25/2020 M12.0 INCH BERRIEN MI TRAINED SPOTTER
0300 PM HEAVY SNOW 4 NW BUCHANAN 41.87N 86.41W
12/25/2020 M12.0 INCH BERRIEN MI TRAINED SPOTTER
0313 PM SNOW 3 WNW LIMA 40.76N 84.16W
12/25/2020 M2.5 INCH ALLEN OH COCORAHS
0336 PM SNOW OTTAWA 41.03N 84.04W
12/25/2020 M1.0 INCH PUTNAM OH TRAINED SPOTTER
0500 PM HEAVY SNOW 1 S ROSELAND 41.71N 86.25W
12/25/2020 M12.8 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN OFFICIAL NWS OBS
STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.
0800 PM HEAVY SNOW 1 W ROSELAND 41.71N 86.27W
12/25/2020 M14.0 INCH ST. JOSEPH IN PUBLIC
STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.
1002 PM HEAVY SNOW SAINT JOSEPH 42.10N 86.49W
12/25/2020 M12.0 INCH BERRIEN MI TRAINED SPOTTER
STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.
&&
$$
Environment
Lake Michigan water temperatures were relatively warm given this is an early season lake effect event. Lake temperatures evident from the GLSEA analysis were on the order of +4 to +6 deg C. A very cold air mass advected across the Great Lakes region with 850 mb temps on the order of -18 to -21. The modification of this cold air mass over the warmer lake led to a sharpening trough along the eastern shoreline late Thursday night. This strong convergence eventually led to the formation of a dominant single band across west central Lower Michigan that dove southward overnight into Christmas morning.
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| Figure 1: GLSEA Great Lakes Water Temp Analysis for 12/24/20 | Figure 2: Very cold 850 mb temps advected across warmer Lake Michigan waters Thursday afternoon helping to induce lake response. (RAP) | Figure 3: RAP sounding from KSBN valid at 1am Friday morning indicating sufficient depth of lake induced instability. |
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| Figure 4: Surface winds/radar composite from approximately 10pm Thursday evening. Note developing convergence along eastern shore of Lake Michigan where dominant band would form |
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