JUST CLICK ON EACH IMAGE FOR A BETTER VIEW………….

There are usually two phases of Indian Summer.  One occurs in October after the first light freeze & then a second after the first moderate to hard killing freeze………..during November.

The second Indian Summer will arrive by the weekend & early next week ushering in some of the finest weather of the year.  Enjoy it because these will likely be the last 70-73 readings until March.

After a couple of Alberta clippers with lots of clouds, rather breezy conditions & some chilly showers Wednesday-Wednesday night, Thursday looks cool & breezy…………..after that, the warmth arrives.

Chilly with a couple clippers with clouds & few showers early-mid this week.

Warmth will begin to arrive Friday with sunshine & highs of 55-60.

Like shaking a rope, a trough in the West will create a ridge in the Plains & force the warmth eastward.

The ol’ West Virginia-Mid Atlantic high, which brings Indian Summer has been a climatological staple since the earliest weather records commenced in the Midwest.

It usually brought sunny, very dry weather with warm days after the killing frost/freeze.

During pioneer times, this pattern brought smoky, hazy weather to our region as many of the prairies were burned by our Native Americans.

Often, a strong front with t’storms (lightning) would produce a prairie fire & it being kicked up from the gusty winds & few firebreaks, would burn from Hoopeston to Chalmers or Watseka to Winamac, unless rain extinguished the prairie blaze sooner.

The hilly terrain along the Wabash would stop alot of the prairie fires & thus, much of the timber from Lafayette to Delphi to Logansport was spared.

Prairie fires were often frequent in March, too.

The warmth will modify over the cooler & damp ground, but mostly sunny skies, brisk south/southwest winds & temps of near  70 to even 73 look possible Saturday-Tuesday.

A sharp cold front with quite a bit of wind is possible Tuesday evening.

At the present time, despite impressive dynamics, it appears there may be a lack of instability & moisture with the front.

Some scattered showers & t’storms will be possible & long-range models crank out 0.40-0.70″ of rain with the cold front.

However, at the present forecasting time, I am not going with a “SIGNIFICANT” rain of 1″ or greater until November 16 or later.

Stay tuned for any changes to current forecast guidance……………….