Storm

BERRIEN COUNTY —  White-knuckle: It's one way to describe the evening commute. But throughout the day, area crews plowed roads to get ready for this huge storm. A battle is brewing and Derek Renbarger is the first line of defense. He is a soldier, of sorts, for the Berrien County Road Department. Everyone in the department is armed and ready to go to war with a mighty foe — the looming storm. "On average, our route is one way 30 miles," Renbarger said.

From Elkhart to St. Joseph County and from Coloma Township to Niles ... storms did a number on homes, parks and trees virtually everywhere. Clean up is slow and steady and for some, it hasn't even started. "I hear this crash and I can hear the windows shaking," said Haley Adams from Mishawaka. It was a Monday morning storm gone wild. Haley Adams still can't believe the aftermath. "I was so shocked I was crying," Adam said. Winds uprooted a massive tree in her Mishawaka backyard.

WANATAH, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana firefighter says he saw a funnel cloud in the area where a barn was destroyed and two homes severely damaged. No injuries were reported from the damage Tuesday morning in the town of Wanatah, but firefighter John Sullivan says pieces of the 200-foot-by-50-foot pole barn at a hydraulics company were found a mile away. One of the damaged homes in the town 30 miles southwest of South Bend belonged to Linda Metzinger.

Fair officials in Elkhart County played it safe Thursday when they ordered the evacuation of the grandstands just ahead of the night's storm. They say they were concerned about the lightning. You'll remember in August of last year the stage at the Indiana State Fair collapsed during a storm, killing 7 people and injuring more than 50. We asked the fair emergency director if the collapse played a role in the decision to evacuate. Phil Wogoman tells us most of the fair's emergency procedures were in place before that happened...but the accident did play a role in one change.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has asked President Barack Obama for aid to 39 counties for damage from this winter's severe weather. Daniels says Monday's request covers storms that happened Jan. 31-Feb. 4. He says officials may identify more damage and says Indiana may seek help for more counties. If the request is approved, state and local governments and non-profit groups could seek assistance to pay 75 percent of the approved cost of debris removal, emergency services and repairs.

STARKE COUNTY -- Mother Nature made a mess of a cemetery in Knox and a month later --  some are upset that the mess is still there. A storm that rocked Knox in July damaged headstones and sent debris flying. Our Factfinder team dug deeper to figure out why it hasn't been cleaned up. Someone reached out to us in an email by sending us pictures of the damage out there. On the outside, the destruction is unappealing -- but as we found out, it's not so easy to fix. On July 24, 80 mile-per-hour winds tore through Knox destroying planes at the Starke County Airport.

Downtown South Bend was shut down Wednesday. City and county government offices were closed along with most businesses while crews battled snow drifts several feet high on streets and sidewalks. Most decided to close for the day, following the city administration’s decision to declare a snow emergency. Normally busy streets were filled, instead, with snow plows and snowblowers. "There's lots of heavy drifting," said Brian Davdison, while clearing snow from a courthouse sidewalk.

SOUTH BEND - Massive snow drifts were blocking roadways across Michiana Tuesday night as 40-mile-per-hour winds whipped snow around. “It’s a bona fide blizzard,” said WSBT-TV chief meteorologist Rick Mecklenburg. He expected the storm to dump up to a foot of snow in Michiana, and reported snow drifts could be as tall as four feet in some areas. Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, Elkhart County was declared to be in a state of emergency because of high winds and snow drifts 2 to 4 feet high covering roadways.

THREE RIVERS -- Power is still out for thousands of people in St. Joseph County, Michigan. Severe thunderstorms with strong winds tore through the area Sunday night. Three Rivers was among one of the cities that was hit the hardest. There are trees down all along a few roads and there are a lot of people who still have plenty of clean-up ahead of them. For many, it was a Memorial Day that didn’t go as planned. A Memorial Day tradition of visiting Moorepark Cemetery turned emotional for this couple.

COLOMA — Monday morning’s storm ripped across Lake Michigan, pummeling areas along the lakeshore.  Roughly 80 mph winds uprooted trees and tore down power lines, leaving several thousand customers without power. As gusts of wind turned into sideways rain, Mother Nature bore down on Berrien County.  “The sheets of wind were so strong that we started finding the transformers popping, bursting into flames and we started seeing all these trees topple,” said Dean Sanders, who lives off M-63 near Hagar Shores.  As he watched two huge trees destroy his guest cottage, Sanders wondered if the thick glass on the banister around his nearby lake home could take any more.

What kind of weather will we see in the coming months? In the first of a series of weather stories that will air every night this week, WSBT Meteorologist Paul Emmick looks at some long-term trends that could impact your summer: Photo courtesy: rkramer62@Flickr

A Winter Weather Advisory in effect for parts of our area today was extended until noon but has expired. However, some of us got hit with another good dose of snow. WSBT meteorologist Cari Peugeot says so far, average snow totals are around 3-4 inches, but there have been a few spots reporting up to 5 inches. The east coast is starting to deal with the storm that dumped snow across the country over the weekend, including parts of Indiana. 5 inches of snow was reported in Knox at 7 a.m. Monday.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Early warning helped officials across Indianapolis and the state plan ahead of Sunday's storm. Central Indiana could get more than 9 inches of snow. 1-3 inches are expected for extreme northern Indiana, 2-4 inches for the southern counties in the WSBT viewing area with quite a bit more as you head further south. Stephanie Sample with the Indy Department of Public Works said a heads up on the forecast provided a head start on preparing roadways and clearing efforts.

A winter storm moving into our area will bring snowfall late tonight. A Winter Storm Warning has gone into effect for the entire area, with the exception of St. Joseph County in Michigan, from Tuesday morning until early Wednesday.   The heaviest snow will fall Tuesday afternoon and evening.   This is system snow, so it will be a heavy, wet snow.   On average, 4 to 8 inches of snow is expected in South Bend and areas south and west of the city.

Just this past week, a major upgrade was completed on the National Weather Service Doppler radar. The technology that was previously used was developed over 20 years ago! What do these upgrades mean for you? One of the most sophisticated tools to keep you and your family safe during severe weather is Live WSBT StormTracker HD. Our software feeds us instant data from the radar site at the National Weather Service, and that radar just got a whole lot more powerful.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - A pair of crashes involving multiple semitrailers and other vehicles amid the snow storm stopped traffic on sections of Interstate 65 near Lafayette. State police Sgt. Brian Olehy says that about an hour after crews had reopened a southbound lane of I-65 from one of the crashes, the other one happened in the northbound lanes a few miles to the south. Olehy says the first crash on Wednesday badly hurt one person, but those injuries were not believed life threatening.

Our area is under a Winter Weather Advisory through tonight. The entire area will see some snow accumulation but the winds are the biggest factor.  We've already had reports of power outages and even schools closed because of no power.  Overnight we had reports of 60 mph wind gusts along the lake shore.  Otherwise most gusts have been near 45 mph. CLICK TO SEE WATCHES AND WARNINGS CLICK HERE TO SEE CLOSINGS/DELAYS CLICK HERE TO SEE A MAP OF CURRENT POWER OUTAGES Snow totals are expected to average 1 to 3 inches.

STATEN ISLAND - A Notre Dame graduate student was among hundreds of runners who didn't get to take part in the cancelled New York City Marathon, and instead chose to help victims of Superstorm Sandy. “It wasn't how I thought I was going to spend my weekend,” said Colleen Huml, who returned to South Bend, Monday. She was just about to board a plane to New York City last week when she looked up at a television and saw that the race was cancelled. Huml continued on to her destination, unsure of what to do next.

STARKE COUNTY -- Mother Nature made a mess of a cemetery in Knox and a month later --  some are upset that the mess is still there. A storm that rocked Knox in July damaged headstones and sent debris flying. Our Factfinder team dug deeper to figure out why it hasn't been cleaned up. Someone reached out to us in an email by sending us pictures of the damage out there. On the outside, the destruction is unappealing -- but as we found out, it's not so easy to fix. On July 24, 80 mile-per-hour winds tore through Knox destroying planes at the Starke County Airport.