Adam J. White - Storm Spotting and Photography

08/05/2024

A quick time lapse of the storm and shelf cloud that rolled through the NWI region this morning, taken by my Wyze camera on Valpo’s campus.

05/24/2024

Nickel to Quarter sized hail in Crete, IL today, associated with a severe thunderstorm.

05/07/2024

Stay weather aware today as conditions are favorable for supercellular development over most of Indiana! Make sure you have a way to receive warnings.

02/28/2024

The severe weather threat is now over for Northwest Indiana, however we have not escaped unscathed. Extreme Northern Lake County was impacted by a fairly substantial tornado, and will be surveyed for damage later. It’s possible in remained very nearshore to Lake Michigan. Very glad that it stayed north, as it would’ve been a disastrous situation if it hit any further south.

Numerous areas in Illinois were also hit by tornadoes.

02/28/2024

TORNADO WARNING for far northwest Lake County in NW indiana. Seek Shelter!

02/27/2024

ALERT!
The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch for the shaded counties (including Lake and Porter) until 10 PM CST.

02/27/2024

Today is a good day to make sure that you have a severe weather safety plan-- Most recent guidance from the Storm Prediction Center has much of Lake County in a 10% SIGNIFICANT tornado risk. This means there is an at least 10 percent chance of an EF2 or greater within 25 miles of any point. This is not saying there will be tornadoes today, but conditions are favorable for supercellular development. Time frame is approximately 5PM-10PM CST. If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer in the comments.

01/23/2024

Ice accumulation forecast is seeming to verify, untreated and back roads are already incredibly slick here in Valpo! Exercise extreme caution if travel is necessary.

01/22/2024

I’m monitoring the potential for a slight accumulating ice event tomorrow into Tuesday. Do not let the low accumulation fool you, since so much as a glaze of ice can cause you major inconvenience (roads bad, windshield frozen etc…). Time line extends from about 6AM (starting with snow) tomorrow transitioning into rain by Tuesday.

01/18/2024

Minor Update to last night's forecast:
Not much changes in terms of time frame, but recent High Resolution Model runs have noted a possible longer dwelling time of lake-effect snow bands over Lake Michigan. This will cause whatever area receives the snow to receive more of it, hence the widening of the 8"+ section. There is further support for Porter County to be the first county to receive this band since it is likely that the snowfall will shift northeastward during the event NOT before which yesterday's forecast predicted. I will continue to update if the total snowfall estimates drastically increase or decrease.

Adam

01/18/2024

This sure seems to be rendezvous, but I have another winter weather forecast to share.
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Confidence is increasing in a winter weather system that will affect the widespread Northern IL, IN, and Southern WI, MI areas. This aspect of the system will likely produce between 2 and 4 inches of super dry, fluffy snow. While not of major concern, you should use caution while driving if encountering any areas of accumulation.

Extreme eastern Porter, LaPorte, Starke and, St. Joseph Cos. in Indiana are not likely to be as lucky, as a strong band of lake-effect snow is expected to impact the region. There will be a sharp cutoff of areas that receive 8+ inches to those that receive 2, which makes lake-effect super fun to forecast (not!). National Weather Service watches are in effect for these areas, calling for localized accumulations exceeding a foot (especially in LaPorte and Starke Cos.). I do expect the area of concern to move slightly northeastward as model guidance becomes more in line, however there is far less disagreement with this system than last Friday's.

I will continue to update this forecast if I feel necessary.

TLDR:
-Light snow accumulations across most of the area.
-Extreme lake-effect snow to impact Extreme Eastern Porter, LaPorte, Starke, St Joseph in Indiana as well as southern MI.
-Window of accumulation between Midnight and 10AM CST on Friday.

Adam

07/11/2023

NWI Severe Tstorm Intercept

03/30/2023

VALID FRIDAY MARCH 30, 2023:
Increased Risk for Severe Weather Friday
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I‘ve been watching the potential for elevated risk of severe weather into the NW Indiana/ Chicagoland area Friday afternoon-night. Expecting linear convection preceded by general thunderstorms in the morning and discreet supercells in the afternoon. Northwest Illinois and Iowa will bear the brunt of this system, and by the time it reaches the NW Indiana border I expect there to be less potential energy to feed the system. Agreeing with the Storm Prediction Center on the risk for our area, being “some threat for damaging wind and a couple of tornadoes will persist before a more definitive weakening trend occurs overnight.” Given relatively high lapse rates of about 8.5 degrees per kilometer, large hail is not out of the question either.
Stay weather aware and tuned into NOAA weather radio or TV outlets.
—
Adam
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Graphic: www.spc.noaa.gov

08/03/2022

Quick storm chase today, did not see much but got this beautiful picture of this storm structure.
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Schererville, IN at US 30

05/18/2022

Monitoring a slight chance for severe t-storms on Friday. Will update when more short term guidance is released!

03/25/2022

Large Graupel to small pea-sized hail in Schererville, IN at around 4:10 PM CDT.

12/10/2021

🎵 It’s beginning to look a lot like… Springtime?
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The potential exists for strong to severe storms to impact the NWI region tonight(into the early morning hours, after midnight CST) with the primary threat being to the southwest. As of now, strong damaging winds and tornadoes are the most probable threats. Ensure you have a plan in the event of an emergency.
I will be sure to monitor as more model runs come out.
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04/06/2021

By popular demand, I am going to briefly explain why today’s few lightning strikes produced such loud and seismic thunder.
Long story short, the phenomenon we experienced today is known as Positive Discharge Lightning (along with a slew of other names). This essentially means that the cloud tops (near the anvil structure of a storm) were positively charged, where the ground was negatively charged. Being at the top of the storm structure, it has to travel much further; this burns a LOT more air. On top of the fact there is a lot more energy there, this allows for a much louder and fuller thunder clap.
The NWS has a great article here.

https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/positive?fbclid=IwAR0vkG7bWJYMUbzKotk-zijHsfiaK1pACWJ5L9ZpEashkGOzeZt9Am6ETqM

The Positive and Negative Side of Lightning Positive lightning strike, copyright by Radek Dolecki - Electric Skies. The previous section describes what is called "negative lightning", because there is the transfer of negative charge from the cloud to the ground. However, not all lightning forms in t...