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Wintry mess could make for a messy Monday commute

Temperatures are on the rebound after a couple of weeks in the freezer, but a potent storm system moving in Sunday night could cause for some tricky travel Monday morning, with snow, sleet and ice all in the mix across central Indiana.Today:

After another very cold start, we’ll start to see temperatures rebound quite a bit – in fact, we should see temperatures surpass the 20° threshold, which will be the first for the new year.  Expect mostly cloudy conditions with highs in the upper 20s and lower 30s this aftenroon.Wintry Mix Tonight:

Winter Weather Advisory will go into effect for much of central Indiana beginning tonight, and continue through early afternoon.

Timing:  Precipitation should hold off until mid to late evening across much of central Indiana.  Early indications of the precipitation starting as snow for many this evening, but we do expect some warmer air – especially above the surface, to move into the area – which should help to promote a changeover for much of central Indiana from snow to sleet and/or freezing rain.  This trend continue into the overnight and well into the Monday morning commute.  Tough to pinpoint exact times of changeover, but the bottom line is that confidence is high that the Monday morning drive into work and school will be slow, if not difficult at times.

Our in house model only puts a few hundredths of an inch of ice down – still plenty to cause problems, and possibly underplaying the fact that our ground is so cold from the recent arctic plunge.  Higher amounts of ice are certainly possible as this system moves though.

In addition, expect some lighter snowfall accumulations of 1″-2″ across much of central Indiana, especially areas northeast of Indy, where you should more snow than sleet/freezing rain.

All precipitation should be moved out of the area by early afternoon, Monday.Monday Afternoon:

The rest of our Monday should be quiet, and warmer.  Highs top out in the middle 30x.8 Day Forecast:

Our warming trend continues through the work week, with 40s, and even 50s on tap for Wednesday and Thursday.  Another system moving through will bring rain chances Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Colder air mixing in behind a cold front will bring mix chances Friday night and snow showers to the area Saturday.