Ryan Martin’s Indiana Ag Forecast for December 12, 2018

We look to be able to get through the entire day today with only clouds to deal with, not precipitation.  A disturbance continues to move east over the Great Lakes, but seems to keep most of the precipitation north of the MI line today.  Clouds build south into Indiana, but we should stay mostly dry.  There is better potential for sunshine the farther south you go today.  Temps push to near normal levels.  We also stay dry tomorrow, but clouds remain over a large part of the state.  South winds take temps up a little further, and we may see parts of the state slightly above normal on Friday. 

Rains push into SW Indiana late tomorrow afternoon and spread into evening.  The rest of the state sees light rain move in overnight into Friday morning, first into western and northern Indiana and then moving east from there.  The showers still settle out over the southern half of the state from Friday midday on through Friday night.  This will lead to higher rain totals in the south.  Combined, we are looking at .25”-1” from I-70 southward, and areas north of I-70 can expect a few hundredths to .25”.  100% of the state will see at least some rain from Thursday night through Friday.  The map above shows moisture for the weekend event. 

On the backside of the system, we get some sunshine to build back on Saturday, and we see sunny, dry weather in control from Sunday through next Wednesday.  Several high pressure circulations will drift over the region during that dry stretch.  Late next week we get some clouds to build back in, and we have to keep an eye out for some scattered light precipitation late Thursday through Friday.  Moisture totals do not look that impressive, mostly at a few hundredths to a tenth or two, liquid equivalent. 

For the rest of the extended period, we are going a little drier this morning.  Cold air starts to move in around the 22nd, meaning we would have an air mass that would support snow.  However, we do not really see good moisture ahead of the Christmas holiday, so the prospects for a white Christmas are low at this time.  The chances for snow into the 23rd are still there, but the system looks less impressive, and track is highly variable.