Just 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 in October? Pretty rare.
RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 805 AM EDT SAT NOV 1 2014 ...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM SNOWFALL TIED AT INDIANAPOLIS... 0.1 INCH OF SNOW FELL AT INDIANAPOLIS YESTERDAY. THIS TIES THE RECORD OF 0.1 INCH SET IN 1890.
Although: a day can mean a lot in weather and weather records. Indy came close last year, with a “trace” of snow the day before Halloween. But the day itself last year was just as miserable as this year, only warmer. It was windy and wet: there was a Tornado Watch for the south half of the state by evening, and we set a Halloween record: 2.01 inches of rainfall. Precip has occurred on 34% of the Halloween holidays since 1871.
BTW: This year was the first Halloween with any snow in Chicago since 1993.
NORMAL INDY SNOWFALL STUFF:
Average Date of First Measurable Snowfall: November 19
Average Date of Last Measurable Snowfall: March 30
Earliest Date of First Measurable Snowfall: October 18, 1989
Latest Date of Last Measurable Snowfall: May 9, 1923
As you can see from the chart below (click to enlarge) Bloomington had half an inch of snow in 1993 and Lafayette had a trace in 1955. And icy weather in northern Indiana led to a Halloween tragedy in 1994.
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