That’s a map of snowfall totals from 25 years ago today. Remember? My memory’s fuzzy, but I was a little distracted with 4 month old Graham Poteet.
The snow actually began on October 18, with 0.2 inches. That’s the record for earliest measurable snowfall at Indianapolis. (The average date of the first measurable snowfall at Indianapolis is November 19). This was the first of 3 consecutive days of measurable snowfall. As the map indicates, the Indy storm total was 9.3 inches. The total at Kokomo was 10.5 inches. The axis of maximum snowfall was from South Bend to Indianapolis to Bedford (Lawrence County).
Here is an excerpt about the storm from the National Climatic Data Center’s Storm Data publication:
“An intense upper-level low pressure system was anchored over the Missouri bootheel which allowed warmer, southerly winds to override colder surface air over Indiana. Snowfall began to accumulate on grassy and exposed areas as the air temperature hovered near freezing. By 0700 EST, accumulations of five to six inches were recorded from across central Indiana, and elevated roadways and bridges were becoming ice covered. The ice conditions became only wet by late morning as the temperatures rose to the middle thirties and road crews had spread salt on affected areas. Another problem was the wet, heavy snow was the large accumulation on power lines, and especially on trees, since many trees still had a substantial number of leaves. Scattered power outages were reported from across central Indiana…”
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[…] a few weeks ago I wrote about the 25th anniversary of a 9 inch snowfall in Indy. So: it can certainly snow in central Indiana in October. But how rare is snow on one certain day […]