More snow this winter than last already, more on way

Whether it's a beautiful red cardinal perched on a snow-covered branch in the Edgelea Subdivision north of Greencastle or new-fallen snow making ornamental trees along North Jackson Street look like they're the flocked variety, Saturday's snowfall was certainly a thing of beauty in the Putnam County area. With more than 10 inches of snow already recorded this winter, another accumulating snowfall is reportedly on the way Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning.

With 10.2 inches of snow already on the books in the Greencastle area, the first 10 days of the winter of 2012-13 has now produced more snow and cold than all of last winter combined.

And for the third time in less than a week, central Indiana is bracing for another anticipated round of accumulating snowfall beginning Monday to help usher in the new year on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service says that the latest storm, expected to begin after noon today and continue into the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, could bring 2-4 inches of new snow to the area.

In the past week, while the so-called Blizzard of 2012 dropped only about 3.5 inches of snow on the Greencastle area Wednesday, a surprisingly strong snowstorm developing Friday night dumped more than that -- five inches of snow on most of Putnam County -- after forecasters had predicted a one-inch total in the general area.

"I measured five inches of new snow," local weather watcher Diana Foust reported to the Banner Graphic Saturday. "My total for the season is now 10.2."

That is almost already an inch more than the entire winter of 2011-12, which totaled only 9.25 inches of snow locally.

The Indianapolis area usually sees 25.9 inches of snow for the season. Officially Indy has recorded 14.2 inches so far this winter, double what it usually receives by the end of a normal December.

Three inches or more of snow on Monday would push 2012 into the top 10 snowiest Decembers of all time. The year 1973 ranks No. 1 with 27.5 inches of snow, while as recently as 2010, Indianapolis got 16.6 inches of white stiff in December, good for third all time.

The seventh spot is held by 1996 at 14.6 inches, with 2005 eighth at 14.1 and 2004 and 1915 tied for ninth at 13.1 inches of December snow.

On average, central Indiana also sees 8.6 inches of snow during January, 6.5 in February and 2.6 in March.

Meanwhile, the snowiest New Year's Day ever in Indianapolis was in 1970 with 2.3 inches, followed by 1999 at 2.2 inches. The last time the area experienced measurable snow on New Year's Day was 2008 at 0.7 inches.

The latest new winter storm Friday night into Saturday morning dropped up to eight inches of fresh snow on some parts of Indiana that were buried only days ago by a blizzard with up to a foot of snow.

The National Weather Service says eight inches of new snow fell on Vincennes, while surrounding areas of southwestern Indiana and parts of southern Indiana received between 6 and 8 inches of fresh snow.

Meanwhile, between four and five inches of snowfall was reported across a wide swath of central, southern, eastern and northeastern Indiana.

Five inches fell in Indianapolis, while the suburb of Fishers just north of Indianapolis got seven inches and Bloomington received about four inches.

Snowfall amounts were lighter in northwestern Indiana, where some areas reported between one and two inches of snow.