Indiana Temperatures Stay Up As Storm Chances Return

Mild temperatures have engulfed much of the nation this week. On Monday, Las Vegas recorded its first triple digit reading of the year while St. Louis recorded its first 90 for 2013 on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, we recorded our warmest day of 2013 so far in over 8 months. The high went down as 85°, the warmest since 87° back on September 6th. Columbus, Indiana was our states hot spot. They recorded a high of 90°. To the right as map of high temperatures from Wednesday.

RECORD EVENT: The low temperature of 67° yesterday was a RECORD for warmest low (highest minimum temp). Previous record was 66 set in 1871

More warm days are in the forecast over the next 5-7 days w/ temperatures to be between 75-85 degrees.

Quiet Tornado Season Ending?
Late Winter Chill gripped much of the Midwest region this Spring which even stirred up a few record freeze temperatures for some spots earlier this week. The chill is keeping the severe weather to a minimum this year. Only 36% of the normal tornado production has occurred to date nation wide. A time where we normally record 500+ tornadoes by this time of year. The month of May is typically when tornado season peaks which also carries into June. There is some signs that severe weather is beginning to ramp up. A severe weather outbreak is possible next week. I'll have more details on that soon in the coming days.
There are a few noteworthy items since my last blog (I haven't done one in 10 days). More on tornadoes here. There was 2 confirmed EF0 tornadoes that struck around the Terre Haute area in Vigo County. Luckily, no fatalities were reported. The first was reported by a storm spotter that touched down around 8:15PM along East Curry Road near Hultz Road. The second was reported in the town of Riley by the local fire department (volunteer fireman) that destroyed a small shed and even downed some tree limbs. No major damage was reported. This second tornado was part of the same storm and touched down at 8:25pm. Keep in mind, though all tornadoes can do some damage and injure or kill anyone, the actual classification for tornadoes (see image below) are rather weak 110mph or less. They are more stronger, the heavier the winds are. Once you start getting to winds up 136 mph or higher your talking severe and devastating damage. Tornadoes with a scale of EF-3-EF5 can overturn trains and possible even throw them miles away. Strong Frame houses can be leveled off their foundations and also swept away for small or large distances. When severe weather strikes, do NOT rely on information from weather sources such as Accuweather and The Weather Channel. You should be getting your information from your local NWS office. For Indiana, you can either follow the NWS Indianapolis, IN or the NWS Northern Indiana. I have some tips for tornado & severe weather safety.



Wednesday Night, strong storms passed through Northern Texas that stirred up a few strong tornadoes. The NWS has been assessing the damage throughout Thursday. There was reports of 16 total tornadoes of which 1 was classified as a EF-3 and another as an EF-4. There was also 3 confirmed EF-0 and 4 EF-1 tornadoes. At Noon Thursday, there was 6 confirmed fatalities, 7 people missing, and over 100+ injured of which nearly half was in the hospital being treated for their injuries. Surveyors will continue to assess the damage tomorrow. More details will soon become available. You can follow them on twitter at @NWSFortWorth for live updates as they continue to survey the damage. You can see the NWS write up for a more complete summary. The write-up will likely continue to be updated as new information becomes available. Visit http://www.srh.noaa.gov/product.php?site=FWD&issuedby=FWD&product=PNS&format=ci&version=1 to see the write up. Video of a tornado below.



Dry Streak Ends, Wet Weather Returns
Everyday from May 3rd-11th the state recorded either a trace or measurable rainfall. The wet pattern ended when a drier pattern moved in over the last weekend into early this week. This was a 5 day stint of dry weather but last night some storms moved that dropped 0.03" of rain at the NWS office at Indianapolis International Airport. The dry streak ends as a stationary boundary positions itself just south of Indianapolis. This will keep the threat for more showers and thunderstorms in the forecast throughout the coming weekend. Not everyone will see rain and there will be some dry hours so it won't be a complete total washout especially the farther North you go. In fact, those North will likely be the warmest and driest while those to the south we'll be wet and a little cooler. Despite the rain chances, temperatures will be mild for everyone in the state. Lower to possibly mid 80s to the North and Upper 70s and Lowers 80s for most Central Indiana and South. Where rain is not present for areas to the South, its possible they may as well reach temperature readings up into the mid 80s.



Models could be overdone, its really hard to say if Indianapolis will see this much but numbers off several weather computer model runs looks somewhat impressive. Just looking at the U.S. GFS model and the European model, the average rain over the next 7 days comes out at 2.21". Over the next 2.5" weeks the GFS model is forecasting 2.93".

Here's a look at my updated rainfall chart. Information DOES NOT include any rainfall from today and observations are between January 1st-May 15th.

LOCATION	YEAR TO DATE PRECIP (thru May 15th)	DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL	PRECIP SINCE MARCH 1	DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL	MONTH TO DATE PRECIP	DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL
BLOOMINGTON	17.68	+0.39	9.67	-1.55	2.28	-0.36
EVANSVILLE	20.02	+2.51	10.49	-0.75	2.55	-0.08
FT. WAYNE	15.06	+2.75	9.77	+1.76	0.33	-1.45
INDIANAPOLIS	20.26	+5.47	12.48	+2.67	1.93	-0.51
INDPLS- EAGLE CREEK	16.18	+1.75	9.24	-0.85	1.32	-1.57
LAFAYETTE	16.28	+4.49	10.33	+2.16	0.73	-1.23
MUNCIE	13.38	+0.25	7.71	-0.88	0.71	-0.69
SHELBYVILLE	10.68	-4.58	5.48	-5.03	0.95	-1.81
SOUTH BEND	14.31	+2.65	6.82	-0.60	0.26	-1.51
TERRE HAUTE	18.93	+3.70	11.28	+0.34	2.27	-1.15

Indianapolis dodges storms today but threat remains tomorrow
Showers and Thunderstorms filled the radar for those south of I-70 earlier today. This didn't not effect weather in Indianapolis too much. We did record trace amounts of rainfall but no measurable rain today. There was a few peaks of sunshine this afternoon but with the added cloud cover we wasn't as warm as yesterday's 85*#176;. The high temperature reached 79° this afternoon after a morning low of 65°.
Tomorrow will be a repeat of today. Again there will be some dry hours. The best chance for rain/storms comes tomorrow and on Friday. The chance gets lower for Saturday, Sunday, Monday where temperatures will be warmer. Rain/Storm chances go up for Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday next week. Will watch severe weather potential during this time particularly for Wednesday. The storm will drop temperatures back to perhaps the upper 60s in some locations. Here's a look at my 8 day outlook.


 FRIDAY'S AVG HIGH: 73° | FRIDAY'S AVG LOW: 53°| SUNRISE: 6:29AM | SUNSET: 8:55PM
 TONIGHT: Partly Cloudy. Chance of Scattered Showers & T'Storms. Low 63.

MAY 17	MAY 18	MAY 19	MAY 20	MAY 21	MAY 22	MAY 23	MAY 24
FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
SCT'D T'STORMS	SCT'D T'STORMS	PARTLY SUNNY	PARTLY SUNNY	CHANCE OF T'STORMS	T'STORMS LIKELY	SHOWERS LIKELY	SHOWERS LIKELY
MILD	MILD	HOT!!	HUMID	MILD	NOT AS WARM	COOLER	BELOW NORMAL
77	78	83	84	81	74	70	70
62	63	66	66	65	58	57	57