INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Winter Weather Preparedness Week rolls on Tuesday in Indiana.

One of the key focuses of the week is understanding the differences between winter alerts from the National Weather Service.

As a reminder, wind chill watches and warnings have been reworded to extreme cold watches, cold weather advisories, and extreme cold warnings. Below is a list of all the different types of winter alerts:

Watch/Advisory/Warning Process

When there is a chance of a winter storm, a watch will be issued from 2-4 days out. This signals the area to be prepared for hazardous winter weather.

A winter weather advisory goes in place when impacts are expected, but not to the level of a warning being issued. Alerts for these types of advisories are typically issued from 12-36 hours before the impacts start. In this advisory, a forecast that contains from 2-5 inches of snow, less than a quarter-inch of ice, less than 2 inches of sleet, blowing snow, or a combination of these will trigger this alert.

Winter storm warnings are issued for events more impactful within the same general timeframe from 12-36 hours out. If the National Weather Service is more confident in its forecast, this alert can be issued beyond 36 hours out from the start of the system. Five or more inches of snow, or other hazards with major impacts will trigger these warnings being issued.

Over the last five years, a winter storm warning has been issued for some part of central Indiana every year except for 2020.

Other Advisory/Warnings Criteria

You can always find the latest details on the forecast by visiting the Storm Track 8 weather blog.

• Biggest snowstorms in central Indiana over the last decade