TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — With a blast of arctic air coming through the area combined with snowfall expected, Thursday night and most of Friday are expected to be messy in the Wabash Valley.
WTWO/WAWV will have team coverage throughout the valley as the weather comes through heading into the Christmas weekend. This page will be updated often with the latest updates on how the weather is affecting the area.
Friday 12:15 p.m.
WAWV Meteorologist Julie Henricks updated the forecast during WAWV News at Noon. The big change, Illinois counties are no longer under a Winter Storm Warning, now only under a Windchill Warning.
Friday 10:00 a.m.
A viewer sent in this photograph of a pond in Sullivan County beginning to freeze over due to the frigid temperatures.
Friday 9:36 a.m.
The weather is still cold, but things are clearing up around US 41 and the downtown bureau in Terre Haute. WTWO/WAWV Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly and WTWO/WAWV Photographer/Videographer Ashley Zukokas endured the freezing temperatures to bring consistent storm coverage to the Wabash Valley.
Friday 8:40 a.m.
WTWO Meteorologist Julie Henricks updated her morning forecast.
“A bitterly cold day ahead as the Winter Storm Warning continues. No additional snow accumulations but blowing snow and a few flurries today. Winds will gust to 45 mph at times, and this will create dangerous wind chills to -35.”
Friday 8:13 a.m.
Friday 7:40 a.m.
WTWO General Manager Tim Sanders and Operations Manager Jeremy Moore were kind enough to serve up breakfast for the team.
Friday 6:45 a.m.
WTWO Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly interviewed Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer live in the downtown studio about the county’s response to the winter storm.
Friday 6:32 a.m.
WTWO Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly was live outside of the downtown bureau once again this morning discussing the continuing cold conditions and dangerous windchill values.
Friday 6:20 a.m.
Looking at power outages, most of the area looks to have service at this time. WIN Energy REMC is reporting a total of 10 customers without power scattered throughout their service areas in Knox and Sullivan Counties. While Duke Energy is reporting 18 customers currently without power in the Wabash Valley.
Link to Duke Energy’s Outage Map
Link to WIN Energy REMC’s Outage Map
Friday 6:15 a.m.
WTWO Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly spoke with ISP Sgt. Matt Ames about road conditions in the region live from the WTWO downtown studio.
Friday 6:02 a.m.
WTWO Reporter Nicole Krasean reports live from outside the WTWO studio in Farmersburg.
Friday 5:40 a.m.
Behind the scenes of WTWO Sunrise.
Friday 5:35 a.m.
WTWO Meteorologist Julie Henricks gives an updated look at the Christmas holiday forecast.
Friday 5:32 a.m.
WTWO Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly was live during WTWO Sunrise with a look at road conditions downtown.
Thursday 11:45 p.m.
Here’s a look at some of the time spent between broadcasts and web updates tracking the storm as it passed through the Wabash Valley bringing along snow and frigid temperatures. As some dayside members of the crew settled in for some sleep, the overnight crew was moving in to continue to track the storm and prepare for the morning broadcast.
Thursday 11:27 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker updated the 7-day forecast and showed just how big of a change we’ll be seeing in temperatures in the Wabash Valley over the next week.
Thursday 11:15 p.m.
WTWO Reporter Terry Craig was live in Farmersburg during our late show with an update on weather conditions.
Thursday 11:03 p.m.
US 41 traffic has slowed, but the temperature continues to drop. Looking at negative temperatures for the rest of the night and into the early morning on Friday. WTWO/WAWV Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly and WTWO/WAWV Photographer/Videographer Ashley Zukokas will continue to report from the downtown Terre Haute bureau.
Thursday 9:54 p.m.
Temperatures continue to drop and salt trucks continue to travel along US 41. Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly and Photographer/Videographer Ashley Zukokas with the WTWO/WAWV news team have been busy covering the storm and will continue to report any updates throughout the night. People can find tips for safe travels and winter preparation here.
Thursday 9:31 p.m.
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Photographer Adam Krackenberger photographed firefighters working a scene in Hymera amid snow drifts and high winds. -
Photographer Adam Krackenberger photographed firefighters working a scene in Hymera amid snow drifts and high winds. -
Photographer Adam Krackenberger photographed firefighters working a scene in Hymera amid snow drifts and high winds.
Thursday 9:09 p.m.
WIN Energy REMC is reporting 203 Knox County customers without power. The area affected is located between Bruceville and Bicknell.
Thursday 8:45 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker took to Facebook Live along with WTWO Reporter Nicole Krasean to provide another update on changing conditions in the area as snow continues to fall and blow due to the wind.
Thursday 6:20 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker updated his forecast as part of WTWO News at 6. Including showing the changing weather alerts across the country. Watch the full forecast here.
Thursday 6:05 p.m.
WTWO Reporter Nicole Krasean provided a time-lapse look at travel down US 41 heading south of Terre Haute.
Thursday 6:02 p.m.
Team coverage began WTWO’s News at 6 with Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker giving a brief update from the weather center while Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly was live from Downtown Terre Haute.
Thursday 5:41 p.m.
WTWO Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly and WTWO Photographer/Videographer Ashley Zukokas outside the downtown bureau in Terre Haute preparing for storm coverage into the rest of the evening.
Thursday 5:31 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker updated the region’s windchill values as Des Moines, Iowa drops to -40 degrees.
Thursday 5:02 p.m.
WAWV Anchor/Reporter Shelby Reilly was live during WAWV news at 5 along the side of 3rd Street/US 41 in downtown Terre Haute with a report on the road conditions.
WTWO/WAWV production crew is hard at work getting our newscast on the air this evening.
Thursday 4:43 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker hopped into the Casey State Bank Digital First Studio to provide a quick update on Facebook Live regarding the weather moving through the area.
Thursday 4:37 p.m.
Thursday 4:34 p.m.
Snow has arrived in Terre Haute
Thursday 4:09 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker reports that snowfall combined with blowing snow due to high winds has reduced visibility in Effingham, Ill. to just 1/2 of a mile.
Thursday 3:49 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker in the weather center monitoring the changing situation across the Wabash Valley as he prepares for tonight’s WAWV News at 5 and WTWO News at 6 weather forecasts.
Thursday 3:30 p.m.
Thursday 3:12 p.m.
Thursday 3 p.m.
The Vigo County Commissioners have declared a Winter Storm Travel Advisory.
The advisory began at 3 p.m. Thursday, and is planned to remain in place until 8 p.m. Saturday.
The lowest level of local travel advisory, means that routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas.
Vigo County Commissioner’s news release
Thursday 2:50 p.m.
It begins…
As precipitation begins to fall at WTWO studios, preparation is underway for a potentially long night of weather coverage. Many employees are planning to stay overnight, turning things like conference rooms and sales offices into makeshift sleeping areas.
Thursday 2:45 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker sent out one more warning as the cold front began to move into the area.
Thursday 1:45 p.m.
In response to the coming winter storm, Union Health announced the closure of multiple locations Friday.
- All Union Medical Group Offices
- Union Health Bone & Joint Center
- Union Health Outpatient Therapy Clinton
- Union Health Pediatric Therapy
- Union Health Physical Therapy East at One Professional Plaza
- Union Health Physical Therapy South at Thomas Plaza
- Union Health Wound Healing Center
For these and other closings related to the winter storm visit our closings page here.
Thursday 12:15 p.m.
WAWV Meteorologist Julie Henricks updated the latest predicted snowfall totals in her WAWV News at Noon forecast.
Thursday 11:50 a.m.
WIN Energy REMC is asking customers to prepare for the storm and the possibility of a loss of power. Should there be outages, WIN Energy said their team is prepared and ready to respond throughout the holiday weekend.
Customers experiencing outages are encouraged to report those by calling 888-456-9876, texting the word ‘OUT’ to 85700, or report the outage through their SmartHub account.
Click here to view WIN Energy REMC’s outage map.
Click here to view Duke Energy’s outage map.
Thursday 11:45 a.m.
WGN’s Chip Brewster and News Nation’s meteorologist Gerard Jebaily discussed the wider impact of this winter storm as it crosses the nation.
Click here to view the show in its entirety
Thursday 11:20 a.m.
Greene County EMA Director Roger Axe is reaching out to churches in the county to open as warming centers.
“Because Greene County is a rural county it could be safer for people to travel to churches in time of need,” Axe said. “What better way to express the meaning of Christmas than to extend a helping hand to those in dire need?”
Thursday 6:10 a.m.
WTWO Meteorologist Julie Henricks warned residents to get errands taken care of early today as precipitation in the form of rain will move in during the mid-day, changing over to snow for the entire viewing area by 5 p.m. Thursday.
Wednesday 7:10 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker took to Facebook Live, joined by Indiana State Police Sgt. Matt Ames and INDOT’s Megan DeLucenay to chat about the coming weather and the preparations underway for the storm.
Ames encouraged drivers in the area to prepare ahead of time for emergency situations. “Have the proper tire pressure in your tires, and make sure your front headlights are working. Most important thing is, to start out with a full tank of gas, and try to keep at least half of a tank in the vehicle,” Ames said. Ames also encouraged drivers to have extra blankets, snacks, water, and a cell phone charger in the vehicle if they have to be on the roads.
Wednesday 6:10 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker shared that the winter storm watch had been escalated to a winter storm warning for the entire viewing area and would be in effect beginning Thursday afternoon and running through late Friday night.
Parts of northern Indiana were now being included in a blizzard warning among numerous warnings nationwide. Walker noted that only six states in the entire lower 48 were not showing some form of weather alert related to this storm.
Wednesday 6 p.m.
WTWO Reporter Terry Craig spoke with Vigo County Highway Director Larry Robbins about preparations underway ahead of the arrival of Winter Storm Elliot in the area.
Robbins said that the mix between rain and snow is challenging as it gives them little time to treat the roads, but they have a gameplan in place.
“Once it switches to snow we’ll start getting some treatment down there, then work to an all-plow situation,” Robbins said. “We’ll try to get all the material out there to work before the temperature drops too fast.”
Tuesday 6 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker noted that the shifting forecast had now put the entire viewing area under a Winter Storm Watch running Thursday through Saturday morning.
Monday 6 p.m.
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker was confident by Monday that a winter storm would be affecting the area by the end of the week. Locally a winter storm watch had been declared for the northern half of the viewing area.
Dec. 13
WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker mentioned during his forecast that a bigger system could affect our area around Christmas time.
“First time we’ve used this word, arctic air, possibly an arctic air mass moves in, and in the longer term, actually becoming pretty confident we’re going to see that as we get closer to Christmas time.”
