Heavy Snow in Indiana, January 20 to 21, 2000

Storm total snow amounts ranged from 6 to 10 inches across Fulton and Marshall counties with most of it falling from lake effect snow bands on the 20th. Laporte county totals ranged from 6 to 12 inches across the eastern third of Laporte county. A storm total of 12.5 inches of snow fell at the South Bend Airport with 9.3 inches attributed to lake effect....Synoptic and mesoscale conditions on the 20th/21st...The coldest air of the season dropped into the midwest on the 20th behind a vigorous low pressure system which developed across the central plains on the 19th. The system tracked across central Indiana the night of the 19th dropping 4-6 inches of synoptic induced snowfall. As the system pulled east... deep northerly cyclonic flow developed in its wake as very cold air poured into the region. With the northerly fetch down along the long axis of Lake Michigan... a tremendous shore parallel snow band developed in the early morning hours of the 20th. Many locations under this snow band reported snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour with whiteout conditions. This band broke up by late afternoon on the 20th with the eventual development of multiple and not as intense lake effect snow bands which developed in response to even colder air spilling south out of Canada. General lake effect snowfall ranged from 6 to 10 inches with Baroda Michigan reporting the heaviest amount of 15 inches.