March winter storm brings rain, heavy snow to South Bend area

Greg Swiercz, South Bend Tribune
·2 min read
Traffic at Capital Avenue and Lincoln Way East in Mishawaka moves among the large snowflakes Friday afternoon as the late winter storm begins its course dropping rain and wet snow on the area.
Traffic at Capital Avenue and Lincoln Way East in Mishawaka moves among the large snowflakes Friday afternoon as the late winter storm begins its course dropping rain and wet snow on the area.

Heavy rain and heavy, wet snow predictions for Friday's late winter weather event in the South Bend area have been hard to predict.

Meteorologists have given their best predictions for just where the freeze lines stretches across northern Indiana. Below the freeze line will result in a lot of water in rain, while north of that area will bring several inches of that heavy, watery snow that makes for great snowballs and snow people.

The latest National Weather Service bulletin for Northern Indiana issued a winter weather warning until midnight Friday. It had called for 4-8 inches of snow for the entire northern tier of Indiana, with 2-5 inches in areas south of Rochester.

High winds with gusts 35-45 mph Friday afternoon were expected, and NWS warned of minor flooding because of the moisture associated with this storm.

More:Winter storm forces postponements of boys basketball sectionals in Northern Indiana

The storm forced many Friday night sectional boys basketball games to be postponed. Also, the anticipated afternoon weather conditions prompted many school districts in areas in Fulton and nearby counties to dismiss students early because the snowfall was predicted to fall during the time when school buses would be taking students home.

The South Bend Board of Public Works said crews will be ready to respond to all snowfall when it begins to fall.

"Crews will focus on salting and cleaning main and secondary roads," the department said in a prepared statement. "Crews will be working around the clock to keep the roads clean and safe."

Weather has postponed South Bend Civic Theatre's performance Friday of "Junie B. Jones, The Musical Jr." It will be reset for 2 p.m. March 11.

Indiana Michigan Power Co. prepared crews in its Southwest Michigan, South Bend, Elkhart and northern Fort Wayne districts to respond to service disruptions. Officials said in a statement that I&M had standby line workers, tree trimming experts, damage assessors and various support staff to handle any problems.

For air travel, the South Bend International Airport reported at 1 p.m. Friday that four flights out of South Bend to Chicago were already canceled for the day. Two incoming flights Friday morning were reported early to arrive as well.

The weather was expected to end about midnight Friday. For Saturday, the National Weather Service said the South Bend area would have mostly cloudy skies with a high temperature near 39 with light southwest winds around 10 mph.

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend area prepares for winter rain and heavy snow