Weekend winds likely to send leaves flying
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Break out the rakes, as Indiana is about to get a new coating of leaves to clean up this weekend.
A low-pressure system west of the state is moving eastward, and set to hit Friday and into the weekend. Along with it will be plenty of gusty winds, which will change the canopies over many neighborhoods.
A low-pressure system out West was expected to bring more than rain this weekend to central Indiana. Rain was also likely to push in this weekend. Friday night will likely be the wettest point of the weekend but not the windiest. Oftentimes, the heaviest rain in a system will arrive when the system’s cold front slams into a community. These cold fronts usually are well ahead of the actual system. After the cold front moves through, it still takes some time for the center of the low pressure system to make it overhead.
Wind forecast
This weekend looks like winds will start warm, with winds out of the southeast on Friday as the cold front approaches. Friday itself looks quite nice with mid to upper 70s, some sunshine, and gusts only around 23 mph at most.
On Friday night, the cold front will hit, and central Indiana will get cooler and windier from there.
During the daylight hours Saturday, winds will be sustained out of mainly the west at around 13 mph, with gusts up to 28 mph.
The center of the low will be overhead Saturday night into early Sunday. Sunday morning looks like it could be the windiest point of the weekend with wind out of the north at 14 mph sustained and gusts up to 30 mph. After this, winds will slow down but not stop completely going into Monday
The outcome
Winds will not likely be strong enough and we’re likely still too early into the fall season to see a mass dropping of leaves this weekend. Some trees that changed colors early in the season are the most at risk for significant leaf loss. Some of these species include maple trees, honey locust trees, and many species of gum trees.
However, there will certainly be more wet leaves to clean up early next week than we’ve likely seen all fall. Might be a good idea to give the leaves a few days to dry out before trying to clean them up.
