Breaking Story From Fox News... Huge Earthquake Hits Chile.

Breaking Story From Fox News.

BREAKING NEWS — President Michele Bachelet declared a state of catastrophe in central Chile after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck early Saturday.
The most powerful quake to hit the country in a half century cut electricity, water and phone lines to many areas, meaning there was no word of death or damage from many outlying areas.
There have been conflicting reports on the death toll, with some placing the count as high as 122, a number Chilean officials expect to rise.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told Fox News that the embassy is reaching out to the Chilean government to offer assistance. He reported that the 100 personnel at the embassy are OK and accounted for.

"Chile has both significant capabilities and strong building codes. Second, the Embassy has activated its Warden system to communicate with Americans in Chile and make sure they are okay," Crowley said.

The quake epicenter was just 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live along the Bio Bio river, and 60 miles from the ski town of Chillan, a gateway to Andean ski resorts that was destroyed in a 1939 earthquake.

In Santiago, the capital, modern buildings are built to withstand earthquakes, but many older ones were heavily damaged, including the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church, whose bell tower collapsed.

In the coastal city of Vina del Mar, the earthquake struck just as people were leaving a disco, Julio Alvarez told Radio Cooperativa in Santiago. "It was very bad, people were screaming, some people were running, others appeared paralyzed. I was one of them."

Several hospitals have been evacuated due to earthquake damage, she said, and communications with the city of Concepcion remained down. She planned to tour the affected region as quickly as possible to get a better idea of the damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center called for "urgent action to protect lives and property" in Hawaii, which is among 53 nations, territories and states subject to tsunami warnings.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter and could also be a threat to more distant coasts," the warning center said. It did not expect a tsunami along the west of the U.S. or Canada but was continuing to monitor the situation.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the west coast of the United States.

Snow Showers Move In Tonight Through Saturday Morning...

You can see in this satellite image above that we are expecting to see bands of snow from this area of low pressure try and move into the area later on tonight and then into Saturday. This is such a big area of low pressure that we could pick up a little accumulation as well. However not much!

There are a few winter weather advisories in effect to our east for areas pretty much from I69 West. This is where they will see slightly higher amounts from this system. Now because the bands of snow are coming from our north east this means that this system will act like an Alberta clipper. And by that I mean we will have no moisture to work with from the golf. Which is usually when we see bigger snow in our area. So just how much are we talking about? Let's check it out below.
As you can see I went ahead and put most of us in that Trace To 2" inch range. This is because most models are agreeing that there won't be much moisture. Also the MOS models are showing a QPF of 0 to 1. Which means most of us will pick up between a Trace and an inch possible. However a few local areas could see closer to and inch with blowing snow to 1.5" inches in spots. However the higher amounts such as 1" to 2" inches will be around I69 and then West of there. So really nothing big to talk about this time around here in Indiana or the WLFI viewing area. Just snow showers moving in tonight into tomorrow. And winds between 10 and 20 mph gusting near 25 mph possible.

So stay warm and stay safe! Even this little bit of snow can and does make things slick to start!

I'll check back soon.....

Stay Safe!

Quick Cast Update...

We did see snow outside in the Indiana area yesterday however we didn't see much! In my last blog post we were looking for less then an inch of snowfall. However this time around we picked up near that with 1.3" inches here in the Lafayette, area. The thing with this snowfall was it fall as an extremely light snow. If you picked it up and tossed it into the air to looked like dust! This is why it added up to 1.3" inches. Had this fell as a heavier snow we may have only recorded around a half inch or less. It all come down to how heavy the snow pack is.

Now let's go ahead and take a look at the temperature outlook map below.
You can see above that yesterday's high was around 27.5° degrees. However the average temperature for this time of year is between 40° and 44° degrees °F. With that said this means we have been around a good 17° degrees below average! That's a big difference. So now the question is "When will we see temperatures get back to near average?" Well, I have gone through some more MOS, data as well as some 850mb temperature plots and I'm seeing the average temperatures try and move back into the forecast by late week into next week! When temperature could hit near 40° degrees! That will feel like a heat wave after seeing temperatures in the 20s for the past few days. If anything this gives you something to look forward to! ;)
Now as for what we have to expect today this map above says it all. We will continue to watch those snow showers move off to the east slowly but surly. While the rest of us see some mostly to partly cloudy skies over the area. I think we have a good chance at seeing some peaks of sun on both Today and Friday! Temperatures will be in the low 30s today with lows tonight in the low 20s around 21° degrees. Here's your quick cast below.

Quick Cast.......................................

Today we will look for some mostly cloudy to partly cloudy skies over the viewing area. Highs will be in the low 30s around 34° degrees with lows falling into the low 20s around 21° degrees. Winds will be light between 5 and 10 mph with a few gusts near 15 mph possible.

Friday we will look for much of the same with more mostly to partly cloudy skies over the viewing area. Again highs will be in the lower 30s around 33° degrees with lows in the low 20s around 21° degrees. Winds will be slightly higher between 5 and 10 mph with a few gusts to 15 - 20 mph possible.
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As I said above come next week we will start to see more average like high temperatures try and move into the area. However the lows still look to be running a few degrees below average. Average lows for this time of year run around 26° to 27° degrees °F. So for tonight and tomorrow's low temperatures we will be running around 4° to 5° degrees below average. Which is really not to bad!

With Spring not being far off we can all keep hope for nice mild "NOT HOT" temperatures to be on the way! ;) lol.

I'll check back soon.

Check Back Later On For The Late Night Quick Cast!

I'll have a quick blog update posted later on tonight talking about how much snow we have seen today as well as temperatures, And then what we have in store for the rest of this week. All this coming up late tonight in the Late night quick cast!

see you then!

DEVELOPING UPDATE..................

Spring Is Not Here Yet As We Have Another Blast Of Winter Air About To Arrive!

Well, we have had a lot of rain move through the area but the good news is it has pushed off to the east and we are finished with it for a while! First lets go ahead and take a loot at some rainfall reports I have recorded below from around the area.

Final Rainfall Totals.

Kentland, .73" Inches.

JIWB, Lafayette, .60" Inches.

Otterbein, .52" Inches.

Remington, .52" Inches.

Attica, .51" Inches.

Logansport, .49" Inches.
You can see the system pushing off to our east in this satellite radar image above. So for the rest of today we can still expect to see lots of cloudy skies over the viewing area. With light winds between 3 and 5 mph. Everything is still very soggy so I would keep the covers of the sofa if you have dogs lol. It is becoming that time of year when everything stay wet of weeks! Yes, the change from Winter to Spring is almost here. The first day of Spring is March 20th. Not far at all. However I don't see spring coming before we see yet another cold BLAST of winter air! Take a look at this map below.This is a look at how things are expected to play out come Wednesday. We will watch the cold air continue to build to our north between now and Tuesday. Then start to move into our area by Tuesday night with temperatures falling into the low 20s. Then highs on Wednesday will only be around 24 degrees with lows falling back into the teens around 14 degrees! Yes, Winter doesn't want to give up just yet! The past few days have only been a teaser with highs hitting in the 40s! This is about the time of year that many people start getting cabin fever. Just hang in there! ;)

Quick Cast...................................

Tuesday we will keep in around a 25% chance of a few light hit and miss scattered snow flurries to showers around the viewing area. Nothing will accumulate to much if anything. Highs will be in the lower 30s around 34 degrees as the cold blast starts to make a move on us by that night. Lows will fall into the low 20s around 24 degrees. Winds will be calm between 3 and 5 mph.

Wednesday we will also keep in a slight 20% to 30% chance of a few light hit and miss scattered show showers through out the viewing area. Snowfall looks to be less then an inch. Highs will be cool in the low 20s as that cold winter air arrives in our area once again making highs around 24 degrees. Lows will drop that night into the lower teens around 14 degrees! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Winds will be rather calm between 10 and 15 mph.
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I'm not currently seeing any bigger system to track this week, other then the few scattered snow showers off and on between now and as we head closer to the weekend. So for now just be ready for another taste of winter cold as we count down to the first day of spring!

I'll check back soon.....