Saturday’s weather story starts with a few asterisks. Early morning radar still showed a little line of rain showing up just south of Indy, moving steadily southeastward. That could be a factor Saturday morning.
Also: clouds and shower chances could hang around through the afternoon from around South Bend to just north of Muncie.
Overall, however: nothing to stop your weekend plans. The wind won’t be a big issue today or tomorrow. It should be dry for the Indianapolis Marathon at Ft. Harrison Saturday morning, despite clouds at the starting line. Race temps will be in the low-mid 40s.
PP NETWORK HIGHS TODAY
53 South Bend
55 Muncie/Marion
57 Lafayette
56 Anderson
57 Indianapolis
57 Hendricks County
59 Evansville
We haven’t strung more than two 70+ days together so far this month, but that’s about to change. Our longest heat streak of October starts Monday and should last through Thursday.
Cold enough to snow today as a storm system moves ashore in the Pacific Northwest. Snow amounts of 4-8 inches are expected with over a foot likely in many of the higher mountain passes. Winter Storm Warnings are in effect for the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges and a Winter Storm Watch is in effect for the northern Sierra Nevada. Strong wind gusts are also forecast.
If you lived in Indiana 23 years ago today, YOU were probably talking about some October snow. Do you remember? I remember it well. Our son was four months old. It was October 19, 1989, and 9.3 inches of snow fell in Indianapolis.
An intense upper level low pressure system sat over Missouri. Warmer, southerly winds overrode colder surface air over Indiana.
Snow began to accumulate as temperatures hovered around freezing. By 7am there was 5-6 inches piled up across central Indiana.
The heaviest snow fell from around South Bend to Indy to Bedford. Final totals were 10.5 inches in Kokomo, 8.8 inches in South Bend and 6.4 inches in Fort Wayne.
Temperatures rose the the mid thirties by late morning and road conditions improved by afternoon. Gusty winds with the heavy, wet snow caused problems with trees and power lines and caused lots of power outages.
Within a week of snow, Indiana temps were back in the upper 80s. Kokomo hit 76 degrees on October 24 that year.
INDY ALMANAC:
The average high today is 64 and the average low is 44. Records are 86 and 23. The sunrise time is 8:01 and the sunset comes at 6:58.
PAUL’S PREVIOUS PREDICTION
Yesterday’s afternoon high was 49. The forecast was 50.
UV INDEX:
3 (Moderate.)
POLLEN COUNT:
Low through Tuesday.
DETAILED INDIANAPOLIS FORECAST:
Today: A cloudy start, then becoming partly sunny. High 57.
Tonight: Mostly clear. Low 42.
Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 67.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear. Low 52.
Monday: Partly sunny and warmer. High 74.
Monday Night: Slight chance of showers and storms. Low 59.
Tuesday: Partly sunny with a slight chance of showers and storms. High 74.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 57.
Wednesday: Partly sunny. High 76.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 56.
Thursday: Partly sunny with a chance of showers and storms in the afternoon. High 75.
Thursday Night: Chances of showers and storms. Low 55.
Friday: Partly sunny and cooler. High 63.
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