Northwest Indiana Grapples with Nearly 3 Feet of Heavy Lake Effect Snow

On Friday, heavy lake effect snow in Northwest Indiana made it nearly impossible to see and made driving dangerous or impossible. LaPorte County is under a winter storm watch until 6 a.m. Saturday, and it could sometimes be completely white outside. The National Weather Service told people in La Porte County that they might want to delay travel that isn’t necessary.

Even though it was Friday night, La Porte County already had up to 32 inches of snow, and it wasn’t over yet. When wind gusts reach 40 mph and snow falls at a rate of 2 inches or more per hour, the National Weather Service says it will be “dangerous to impossible to travel.”

Between 10 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday, a winter storm warning was also sent out for nearby Porter County. Porter County has had much less snow. As of the last news, Chesterton had only gotten 6 inches. It’s possible for another 6 inches of snow to fall tonight. At noon, Indiana State Police shared pictures of a snow-covered I-94 at U.S. 421 in Michigan City. Parts of big interstates, like I-94, were also closed all day because of the weather.

Before it got even snowier overnight, a lot of plows worked on the side of the Borman Expressway (I-80/94) and on local streets near Chesterton on Friday night. Cassandra Bajek of the Indiana Department of Transportation Northwest said, “It’s just plow, plow, plow and salt, salt, salt. Just really going out there and taking care of the roads.”

Northwest Indiana was almost completely white for parts of the day. Semitrailer trucks had a hard time getting across frozen bridges along I-65 early Friday morning. In just a few minutes, sight on I-94 in La Porte County went from about 0.25 miles to none at all because of the snow.

I-94 had to be closed because of the heavy snow that stopped all traffic. Plows got stuck in the miles-long line of cars, and it was hard for cops to get to crashes, including one involving a UPS semi-trailer truck. “We spent a lot of time today just waiting for traffic to clear to be able to clear the roadways,” stated Bajek. Even though I-94 was open again by late Friday night, drivers were told to be careful.

Also Read: Case Dismissed Against Detroit Officer Charged in Fatal Incident with 71-Year-Old

People in Michigan City, Indiana, had to go slowly because it had snowed about 16 inches. The streets were plowed often, but it didn’t seem to help the roads, which were still very slippery. Still, people from CBS 2 saw people walking around because they said it was safer than driving. Some people who were out and about planned to buy a shovel and help others dig out.

“It’s fun right now,” said Andrew Smith, who lives in Michigan City. That’s a lot of snow! It hasn’t snowed since Christmas, so it’s fun to do this. This winter, I can build a snowman and play with the kids. A lot of people went to a nearby gas station to fill up their snowblowers with gas. One man said it took him hours to clear the snow off his path, and he had to get more gas because he used up four gallons of it.

“Coming down, like 3 inches an hour, and the driveway’s pretty big, so I actually had to get gas to go back to snow blowing it,” stated Jesse Pullins. “[I’ll] probably be doing it for another couple of hours.”

Also Read: Tipp City Schools Face Lawsuit Over Alleged Violations of Ohio Open Meeting Act

It was also gambling time for Frank Finney and his family on I-94 as they went from Michigan City to La Porte. “We’re kind of taking a chance – rolling the dice,” Finney stated. “It’s a little slippery outside, but not too bad.” “You need to be careful while driving.” Doug Mullins, who drives a snowplow, started clearing parking lots and roads at 2 a.m. and didn’t stop until Friday night.

Mullins said, “We are busy, stressed, and crazy, but we are getting it done.” “It’s crazy—in just one night, you can’t keep up.” We won’t get home until late, so keep rocking and going. There were also several accidents early Friday morning on Interstate 65 because it was icy. “Completely frozen,” according to Indiana State Police, was a bridge south of U.S. 231 in Crown Point.

Roads near Gary, Indiana, are said to be covered in a lot of snow. Porter and La Porte counties, on the other hand, have received the most snow.