Today will be the SIXTH consecutive day of record breaking heat in parts of Indiana, including South Bend and Lafayette. It will be the EIGHTH consecutive day of 70+ weather in Indianapolis. (The old record was six.) Indy set records both days over the weekend, and both of them were over 100 years old. Another record will fall today, this time from 1921.
SUNDAY HIGHS:
83 Terre Haute (breaking record from 1989)
82 Evansville (breaking record from 1982)
81 Lafayette (breaking record from 1979)
80 Indianapolis (breaking record from 1903)
80 Bloomington (breaking record from 2009)
78 Muncie (breaking record from 2009)
77 South Bend (breaking record from 1903)
77 Ft. Wayne (breaking record from 1903)
The looming low pressure to our west gets juuuuuuuuust close enough today to bring a slight shower or storm chances to the northwestern third of the state, including Lafayette and South Bend. Anything that develops won’t be around long.
The ridge of high pressure over the east will actually strengthen again over us Tuesday and Wednesday, which makes the forecast even sunnier and hotter. The max heat of the sizzling streak may come tomorrow, with highs in the mid 80’s.
The storm to the west will dial down the center of the country the next few days. Eastern and northeastern Texas through Missouri and Kansas will take the biggest hits. The Storm Prediction Center has a slight storm risk from Iowa down to Texas today, with a moderate risk in east Texas and the southeast corner of Oklahoma.
Soaking rain and possible severe weather can be expected around Texas and surrounding states, with as much as 8 inches of rain possible from northeast Texas into Arkansas and southwest Missouri. That storm should start to work its way toward us by Thursday. The latest computer model trends, however, still keep us in the 60’s for high temperatures following the front this weekend.
We may be in the middle of the warmest March ever in Indy. The average temp for the month so far is a blistering 52.5, 12.6 degrees above average! Right now the warmest March ever was in 1946 and 1910, when the temps averaged 51.9. The average was 51.2 in 1945. Given this week’s forecast, I think it’s unlikely we are any “cooler” than that.
In case you were busy with brackets over the weekend and missed it: The nation’s “icebox,” the seemingly-always-frigid International Falls, Minnesota smashed a record. The temp Saturday soared to 77, which was 42° above the average high temperature for the date, the city’s hottest March temperature on record by 4°. The 77° reading beat the previous record for the date by a whopping 22 degrees.
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INDY ALMANAC:
Average high today is 53, and the average low is 34. The record high (which will fall again) is 78, from 1921. Record low is 7. Sunrise time is 7:49, and sunset is 7:57.
DETAILED INDIANAPOLIS FORECAST:
Today: Partly sunny. Another record high of 81.
Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low 60.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Even hotter! High 84.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear. Low 60.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny. High 83.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 62.
Thursday: Partly sunny. Slight shower/storm chance. High 76.
Thursday Night: Shower/storm chances. Low 62.
Friday: Good chance of showers and storms. High 74.
Friday Night: Chance of showers and storms. Low 54.
Saturday: Chance of showers. High 67.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 46.
Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 65.
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