Winter Blitz Continues Across The Area for Day #5

 ...Pertinent Weather Information...

Occasional periods of freezing drizzle, snow flurries, sleet, and/or light snow will continue through about 3-4pm, then diminish through 6pm. Any ice accumulation will likely average a trace or other small amount generally less than 0.1 inch. Any sleet and/or snow accumulation will likely average a trace or other small amount generally less than 0.5 inch.

Air temperatures are expected to remain below freezing again today, and gusty winds will produce wind chill values mainly in the teens. Temperatures will finally rise above freezing for approximately 4-5 hours on Friday afternoon, then fall into the mid to upper teens on Saturday morning.

...Direct, Weather Related Impacts...

Any melt of ice/snow that occured due to partial sunshine on Wednesday has refrozen overinght. Patchy, generally trace amounts of new ice accumulations from patchy freezing drizzle have also occurred overnight and will continue possible into early this morning, making road conditions hazardous again even in areas that saw some improvement yesterday afternoon.

During the day today, patchy freezing drizzle, snow flurries, sleet and/or light snow are possible at times. The occasional light freezing precipitation along with the presence of cloud cover and sub-freezing temperatures throughout the day will likely hamper the melting efforts today, with hazardous road conditions likely to continue in many areas.

...Ongoing Infrastructure Issues...

The refreeze of any partially melted ice/snow overnight along with ice remaining on tree limbs and power lines coupled with gusty winds have maintained the already severely stressed (and in some cases, damaged) infrastructure situation across many parts of the area. Due to this and the other reasons outlined above, it is quite possible that some parts of the area will remain without power, or only sporadically have power, for a number of additional days as a result. Water supplies also remain compromised in many parts of the area due to 1) electrical failure at pumping stations and/or 2) failure of back up generators after the main power supply failed. Those water supplies that still exist are typically producing lower than normal pressure, and boil water notices are in effect for most of the area. These conditions are likely to continue until 1) consistently reliable power is restored area wide, and 2) the pumping stations, once back online, are able to sufficiently build pressure.

After falling into the middle to upper teens tonight/early Friday morning, temperatures will finally begin to moderate across the area during the day on Friday, likely rising above freezing for 4-5 hours during the afternoon. This should lead to more rapidly improving road and surface conditions, which hopefully will lead to improved ability for infrastructure to be restored. The milder temperatures will also decrease the demand on the electric and gas supplies, which should help rebuild capacity to normal levels over time. Readings will fall back into the upper teens on Friday night/early Saturday, causing a refreeze of melted ice/snow on untreated surfaces once again on Saturday morning, but by Saturday afternoon readings will be well into the 40s. Present indicaitons suggest that, after about 10am on Saturday, temperatures will not go back below freezing again within the remainder of the 7 day period.

We will continue monitoring the situation and issue updates as conditions warrant.