5PM Weather Update

Its been yet another mild day across Indiana! And Spring wastes no time on coming in. Todays temps reached the 80s! This is more typical for almost mid June and is the warmest since 81° on September 13th, 208 days ago. This marks Day #4 with temps 70° and above. The last time that happened was the last 4 days of September the 27th-30th.
Unfortunately for those out West, temps dropped to the teens with snow in areas around Denver. This is behind the cold front that is headed our way. This will drop temps late week here. We can pull out another freeze from it. Don't be fooled by the Spring Warmth, mother nature still has a trick or two up her sleeve. We'll have a few days with below normal temps next weekend. The overall pattern though for the next 2 weeks is of course, warmer temps. By the way, the average first 80 is April 20th and the average high at 80 is June 7th so we are ahead of both of those dates. The average last freeze is April 17th. The image to the right shows history for the past 5 years, here's a list of the last freeze dates from 1998-2007:
1998: March 24th-27°
1999: March 28th-31°
2000: April 12th-29°
2001: April 18th-26°
2002: May 19th-32°
2003: April 23rd-29°
2004: April 14th-30°
2005: May 3rd-29°
2006: April 9th-32°
2007: April 13th-31°


Here's a look at the chart for the 1st 70s, 80s, and 90s over the past 10 years.

YEAR	FIRST 70° DATE	70° TEMP RECORDED	FIRST 80° DATE	80° TEMP RECORDED	FIRST 90° DATE	90° TEMP RECORDED
2012	MARCH 12	71°	MARCH 14	81°	MAY 26	90°
2011	MARCH 17	74°	APRIL 10	83°	MAY 30	90°
2010	MARCH 10	72°	APRIL 1	82°	JUNE 11	90°
2009	MARCH 06	70°	APRIL 24	84°	JUNE 19	91°
2008	APRIL 07	71°	APRIL 23	82°	JUNE 08	90°
2007	MARCH 14	77°	MARCH 13	80°	JUNE 07	90°
2006	MARCH 12	70°	APRIL 13	82°	JULY 02	90°
2005	MARCH 30	77°	APRIL 10	80°	JUNE 05	90°
2004	MARCH 24	70°	APRIL 17	82°	N/A	N/A
2003	MARCH 16	74°	APRIL 15	81°	JULY 03	90°

April Snow slams the Denver area causing over 300 flight cancellations at Denver International Airport. Highest Snow Totals coming in at 8". Again, teen temperature readings in Colorado but Cheyenne, Wyoming is checking in with single digit readings. This isn't expected here in Central Indiana but the powerhouse cold front will be the mechanism for severe thunderstorms tomorrow night. Here's a one stop look severe probabilities today. The SPC has placed Indiana under a slight risk for severe thunderstorms on Wednesday & Thursday . Damaging Straight Line Winds, Heavy Rain, Vivid Lightning, Isolated Tornados, and even some Hail will all be threats for our state.



There is a chance for some Isolated Thunderstorms tonight in Indiana. Not everybody will see some rain or storms. Temperatures tonight will only drop back into the low 60s. Tomorrows high could have the capability of reaching 80 but will be dependent on how soon we'll get some showers or thunderstorms and how long the sun will be out. For now, I'm going 77° but again, 80 is not out of the question here. Winds will continue to be on the breezy side. As of 5pm, we've had a peak wind speed of 31 MPH and a peak wind gust of 37 MPH. I'll have another update later tonight and update my 8 day forecast.