Indianapolis reached 84 already by 3pm, meaning that today will officially at least tie for the warmest day of the year so far. The record is 87, and may be tough to reach with some clouds around from showers that popped up a little after lunch. Nothing like yesterday’s storms. This month is off to a flying start, with Broad Ripple flooding, tornado sightings, and a shot at a new Indianapolis record high today.
Mother Nature opened the floodgates yesterday even as the Indianapolis Department of Public Works found two of them closed in the 6500 block of Westfield Boulevard. Bad timing for Broad Ripple. The Airport accumulated 1.48″ of rain Monday. About half of that (.71″) fell between 7 and 8pm.
About that same time a supercell roared out of East Central Illinois, and produced several funnel cloud sightings. There were at least three reports of tornadoes:
6:57pm – two miles east of Yeddo, in Fountain County.
7:36pm – five miles northeast of Ladoga in Montgomery County
8:37pm – three miles west of New Ross in Montgomery County (where a house was hit and a barn destroyed)
National Weather Service meteorologists will investigate today.
Meteorologists will also be watching the thermometer today and getting ready to erase another record. The forecast high is 87, and that’s the present Indianapolis record for May 2nd. It was set in 1959. Tomorrow’s record of 86, also from 1959, is also threatened.
The slooooooooooow moving boundary between mild and warm air is lifting to the north today, allowing those 80’s and keeping the threat of active weather to the north of central Indiana. The hot spot for storms today will be Iowa and Nebraska. There is a slight risk of severe storms extending from Chicago-land into that part of northern Indiana north of Peru and Fort Wayne.
Along with the northward progression of that front – the fog threat is farther north Wednesday morning compared to Tuesday morning. The thickest fog will form in the northern third of the state.
A front re-enters the picture by Thursday night, and will again move slooooooooowly into central Indiana. Unfortunately that keeps a storm chance alive through the weekend. Best estimate now is 30% Saturday and 40% Sunday, as the front gets even closer. If you’re running the Mini expect a warm and slightly muggy race, and be ready for rain as those “gates” are opened Saturday morning!
POLLEN COUNT:
Maybe we can credit yesterday’s rain – the pollen count stays at “Medium-High” today, before rising back to “High” Thursday through Saturday.
INDY ALMANAC:
The average high today is 69 and the average low is 48. Record high is 87, from 1959. The record low is 31, from 2005. Sunrise time is 6:44 and sunset is 8:41.
DETAILED INDIANAPOLIS FORECAST:
Today: Patchy dense fog early, then becoming mostly sunny and warmer. High 87.
Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low 66.
Thursday: Sunny and hot. High 87.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 66.
Friday: Partly to mostly cloudy, with chances of showers and storms. High 82.
Friday Night: Chances of showers and storms. Low 65.
Saturday: Partly to mostly cloudy with a slight chance of storms. High 80.
Saturday Night: Slight chances continue. Low 61.
Sunday: Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of storms. High 78.
Sunday Night: More slight chances. Low 59.
Monday: Partly to mostly cloudy, with slight shower and storm chances. High 75.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 57.
Tuesday: Partly sunny. High 71.
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