Winds gusted as high as 53 mph today.  Wind gusts of +50 mph were measured as far east as Pine Village, Rensselaer & Knox.  Peak gust of 48 mph was measured at WLFI.

We reached 67.6 degrees today at the television station.  Tyler Snider’s weather station near Attica reached 69.7 degrees.

Tonight we are falling rapidly through the 40s & are headed for an overnight low near 32.  A few snow flurries & snow showers are possible, mainly in the northern 2/3 of the viewing area tonight.

Surface warm front will approach Thursday night & pass Friday morning-midday.  It will cloud up Thursday night & the temperature will rise from the 30s to lower 40s.  A wave of showers & t’storms with a few embedded hailers will pass Friday morning-midday with east, then southeast winds.

The rain will shut off from south to north Friday afternoon with sun appearing & the temperature will surge into the 60s (though it may hang on to the 50s all day in the far northwest, where rain may hang on most of the day).

Squall line will form in Illinois & race through in the evening after temperatures rise to near 67 & dew points from the lower 50s in the north to 60 in the south & southeast.  Severe threat will exist over part of the viewing area, but I did not include the entire area due to the higher dew points not making it to the entire viewing area.  Main threat would be wind, but a couple isolated EF0-EF1 tornadoes are possible.

South winds may gust to 40 mph ahead of the line & to 45 mph from the northwest behind the line.

Some snow showers are possible Friday night as the temperature plunges to near 30 & we will stay in the 30s all of Saturday with some flurries & snow showers.

The pale, hazy sky is dust thousands of feet up that has blown in from the Plains.  This pale color will continue through the day & may bring a more colorful bronzy & orange sunset.

Temperature has reached 68 as of 2:18 p.m. at WLFI, but dew point is only 36 with passage of that dry line.  All of the storms should be in Ohio today & not form in Indiana, as  Tornado Watch was just issued for part of Ohio.

Tornadoes with damage occurred near Evansville & Newburgh, Indiana, Harrisburg & near Ridgeway, Illlinois & Madisonville, Beechmont, Elizabethtown, Hodgenville, Paducah & Millertown, Kentucky, all the way back to Kansas & Missouri overnight & early this morning.  There are at least 13 deaths (10 of those in the southeast Illinois city of Harrisburg) & +100 injured.  Rescues still continue on the southeast side of Harrisburg & trapped individuals have been reported at Elizabethtown & Millertown, Kentucky as of 11:39 a.m.  Tornadoes will continue to develop today from Kentucky to Tennessee & Alabama.  Prayers go to the families affected by these tornadoes.

Here, I had one report of hail overnight, 0.50″ diameter at Perrysville.

It appears any storms will form/be east of the viewing area today.  Dryline is near Grissom & racing eastward.

It will continue to be windy with sustained winds at 20-30 mph with some gusts of 45-55 mph.  Highs will be 62-69.  Already at 11:53 a.m., our WLFI temperature is 66, but it should level off at 68, then fall some later this afternoon.  With 32, we may have a few snow flurries/snow showers tonight, but 67 & severe storms will be in parts of the viewing area by Friday.

Showers & t’storms will continue to pass through tonight-early Wednesday morning.  An isolated hailer or two is possible.

Winds will crank up with gusts to 30 mph by 7 a.m. with temperatures rising all night from south to north through the 40s & 50s.

Severe storms with some damaging wind & perhaps a tornado or two are possible south of I-70.

It was a mild to warm day, especially in our southern counties!

The rain is now overspreading a chunk of the viewing area.  We have dropped into the 40s due to evaporative cooling by the rain, but the warm front will overcome this overnight-early Wednesday morning, so temperatures will rise to near 58 by 7 a.m.  T’Storms are occurring in Illinois & some of these will arrive overnight-early Wednesday morning.  I would not be surprised to see an isolated hailer or two in the morning, before any t’storms exit.

Severe threat will reach I-70 overnight to early tomorrow morning.

Once all of this rain/t’storm action exit, partly cloudy skies will give way to sunny skies as dry line passes.  It will drop our dew point from the 50s to the 20s & 30s.  It will also pop a narrow line of low-topped storms right around Kewanna to Logansport to Michigantown to Lebanon & Brownsburg.  These will rapidly move eastward & may begin to produce some severe wind as approach I-69.

It will turn sunny for everyone with a dry, very strong southwest wind sustained at 20-30 mph with gusts of 45-55 mph.

Storm system will pull a very brief cold shot Wednesday night-early Thursday morning with low clouds & a few snow flurries & snow showers.  By Thursday afternoon, the low clouds will be scoured out, but high & mid clouds will already be streaming northward as a warm front surges back towards us.

This will arrive & pass Friday morning with a wave of showers & t’storms with a few hailers possible.  Temperatures will skyrocket from the 30s & 40s to the 50s & then 60s rapidly.

Some sun will likely appear, south winds will gust to 40 mph & a squall line of severe t’storms will form in Illinois (may begin as supercells as first).  This will pass in the late afternoon & evening, but it appears surface instability favors severe weather more south of an Otterbein to Battle Ground to Michigantown & Cicero.  Damaging winds & perhaps an isolated EF0 tornado will be possible.  More substantial tornado action may occur in southern Illinois & far southwest Indiana to Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi & Arkansas.  A few strong, long-track EF3 tornadoes may occur in Arkansas & western Kentucky to Tennessee.

We dropped to 20.0 degrees this morning at WLFI, but now sit at 53.1 as of 2:15 p.m., a rise of 33.1 degrees!  At Tyler Snider’s Attica station, the temperature is up 34.5 degrees from a morning low of 21.7 to 56.2!

The forecast remains virtually unchanged with wave of showers & some t’storms tonight-early Wednesday morning with temperatures falling from the 50s to the 40s briefly with the rain due to evaporative cooling.  Then, with passage of the surface warm front, which will act as a focusing mechanism for severe storms south & southeast of us, our temperature will rise to 58 by early Wednesday morning.

With sunshine & cumulus, the temperature will rise into the 60s by midday with dew points in the mid 50s.  Dry line will passage around this time, which will scour out any cumulus, but will pop a narrow, low-topped squall line from near Logansport to Michigantown to Lebanon.  It will likely go severe with some damaging straight-line winds & pea to marble-sized hail as it approaches I-69.

It looks to be a sunny, dry, very windy (gusts 45-55 mph with the 50-55 mph gusts in Newton, Jasper & Benton counties) , warm afternoon.  In fact, the skies may actually turn rather pale & hazy as blowing dust from winds up to 75 mph in Texas arrives aloft.  The cold front will pass in the evening, followed by much cooler temperatures & a low cloud deck arriving.  A few snow showers are possible Thursday morning with temperatures near 32, followed by gradual afternoon clearing & highs near 43.

 TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY MORNING:

Clouds will be on the increase Tuesday with east winds turning to the southeast & picking up.  After a frosty morning of 20s, the afternoon will warm to 47-54.

Any showers & embedded t’storms will not arrive until Tuesday night & then end early Wednesday morning. An embedded squall line MAY bring severe threat as far north as Indianapolis Tuesday night as line, fueled by low-level jet & some instability, interacts with the shear of a northward-moving warm front.  Our temperature may drop into the 43-47 range with the rain at first (with evaporative cooling with the 30s surface dew points), but then rise to 51-56 by Wednesday morning with passage of this warm front.

WEDNESDAY:

Rapid cumulus develop will occur ahead of a dry line which will pass through the area in the midday time frame.  It will likely spark a narrow, broken squall line from Logansport to Burlington to Michigantown, southward to Lebanon.  The squall line may intensify & go severe once it approaches I-69, out of our viewing area (Marion to Alexandria to Lapel soutward to Fortville & Oaklandon in the Indianapolis metropolitan area).  Models suggest some downward momentum of 63-74 mph gusts if the 250-400 j/kg SBCAPE can be realized.

Our skies will clear rapidly & our dew points will crash with passage of dry line.  The dry air will heat quickly & compressional heating will aid in pushing the temperature to 67 at Lafayette & has high as 69 in the far south with 65 at Logansport & 63 at Winamac.  Winds will gust as high as 45-55 mph from the southwest, mixing down due to more than ample sunshine.

Dry cold front will pass in the late afternoon-evening, with wind shift to the west & west-northwest.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT-THURSDAY:

Stratus/stratocumulus will arrive from the northwest Wednesday night.  Temperatures will fall to 30-35 by early Thursday morning with a few snow showers/flurries.  However, high temperatures look warmer at 38-44, rather than 35-40.

February 29, 1857

The winters of 1811-12, 1819-20, 1856-57, 1976-77 & 1977-78 overall are generally regarded as the coldest winters of the past 200 years.  Each were incredibly snowy with numerous days area-wide below zero.  Great hard ship occurred on settlers to modern-day residents from these winters.  The Wabash froze solid enough to easily navigate across in all of these years.

March 1, 1960

Coldest March temperatures on record for parts of the viewing area occurred.  Only March 1814, 1833, 1868, 1872 & 1943 had temperatures this cold.  The 1960s were known for their cold Marches with very cold weather occurred in 1964 & 1967, as well.

Romney dropped to -14, West Lafayette, Logansport & Peru to -12, while Frankfort had -11, Rensselaer -8.  Delphi had -7, while Crawfordsville bottomed out at -4.

A deep snow pack of 7-14” resided across the area from late February through the first 8 days of March.

March 2, 1833

Early March 1833 was the coldest March weather until 1872.  Andrew Jackson’s inauguration was done inside the hall of the House of Representatives as the Arctic air races east & southeastward.

There are indications that mid-March 1814 had a major cold wave.  In fact, the temperature was 4 degrees at sunrise near Cincinnati, Ohio on one of the March mornings & readings were reportedly below zero at Chicago & Fort Wayne.

March 3, 1983

Winter & early spring was a big tease in 1982-83.  The winter of 1982-83 was a very mild reprieve from the winters of deep snow & bitter cold in the late 1970s & early 1980s.  A false spring also arrived early in 1983.  Today would mark a 5-day stretch of temperatures in the 70s in the viewing area with overnight lows unseasonably mild in the mid to upper 50s.  However, the coldest temperatures of the entire winter would occur March 23 with lows of -5 to 3, killing the fresh, new unfurling leaves & flowers of the trees & shrubs.

March 4, 1880

Severe weather outbreak occurred in the southern half of the viewing area & over a good chunk of Indiana.

A tornado hit Indianapolis at approximately 10:30 p.m. with substantial damage, while “considerable damage” was reported in Lafayette from very strong winds & heavy rainfall from the storm passage around 10 p.m.

A tornado near Alto, in Howard County killed one & injured 9 when the twister destroyed a house shortly after 10 p.m.

Other damage occurred in Warren, Fountain & Clinton counties with numerous downed trees with outbuildings damaged, even destroyed.

On this same night, a major tornado “caused immense damage” (2 fatalities, numerous injuries) in part of Toledo, Ohio at 11:15 p.m., while tornadoes likely hit Spencer, Indiana at 10 p.m. & Liberty, Indiana “in the early morning hours” of the 5^th.  A “great loss of property” from damaging winds was reported at Madison, Indiana (just north of Louisville) at 5 a.m.

Widespread wind damage occurred 40 miles southwest of Bloomington, Indiana near Odon.  It was written that wind leveled many old buildings & blew down fences & orchards.

This appears to have been a racing squall line with a bulge in the line in the Warren to Howard County areas with an embedded tornado likely at the top of the line kink, which may have produced damage at Lafayette & then the bigger damage at Alto.  The storms hit at the same time at Spencer & Lafayette & if you drawn a line they line up nearly due north & south, meanwhile the Howard County storm hit shortly after 10 p.m. with Indianapolis getting hit with a tornado at 10:30 p.m.

March 5, 1828

The growing seasons were so long & the winters so mild in the mid & late 1820s that settlers raised cotton in Indiana.  In fact, a cotton gin was built at Springfield, Illinois & Worthington, Indiana.  The cotton industry collapsed in the early 1830s when a series of hard winters & uncommonly late frosts crushed the early investments in the Midwest.  The winter of 1827-28 was exceptionally mild & appeared to rank up with the very mild winter of 1875-76 & 1889-90 in the Midwest & Ohio Valley.  Daffodils were in blossom & American elms budding at Lexington, Kentucky in late January 1828.  Peaches were reportedly blossoming in Arkansas in January 1828.

However, the coldest air of the season in many 1820s winters hit in late February or early March, before a nice, warm spring commenced.

March 6, 1956

A significant outbreak of severe weather occurred in the viewing area with 6 confirmed tornadoes.  Golfball- to baseball-sized hail fell in a swath from near Radnor to south of Bringhurst to northwest of Burlington while an F2 tornado in Carroll County ripped through areas 1-1.5 miles northwest of Delphi.

An F2 tornado near Dunnington, in Benton County, injured 3 people & caused $1/4 million in damage, while another F2 injured 1 person as it tracked 2 miles from northwest of the Route 18/Co. Road 500E intersection to north to north of Galveston Airport to Co Road 700E.

Yet another F2 tornado touched down between Amboy & Converse in Miami, while an F2 did damage to farms northwest of Windfall.  In White County, an F2 tornado did $3,000 in damage by side-swiping farms 1-1.5 miles northwest of Monticello.  In Grant County, a significant F4 tornado killed 1 & injured 31 people as it tore through homes.  A $¼ million in damage was done (1956 dollars).

March 7, 1961

Clean-up continued after 6 confirmed tornadoes roared through Warren, Tippecanoe, Clinton, Howard & Boone counties during the early morning hours of the 6th.  All were F1’s & F2’s, but 2 large F3’s hit Howard County.  1 person was killed & 5 were injured while damage amounted to nearly $600,000 (1961 dollars).

It is another windy, but sunny & mild day (wind is a little cool, though)!  Brush fire danger threat is quite elevated today with very low relative humidity & strong winds.  Grasses cured by winter dormancy & wind, in addition to relative humidity levels as low as 27% are making for robust fire conditions.

Widespread showers & t’storms will arrive late, late Tuesday & pass Tuesday night to early Wednesday morning.  A squall line embedded in the rain may bring at least some severe weather as far north as Indianapolis.

After morning rain, it appears the sun will come out & bands of puffy cumulus developing Wednesday afternoon.  Strong winds will arrive with gusts as high as 50-55 mph in places with sustained winds at 25-30 mph.  Temperatures will surge to 62-68 with 65 at Lafayette, 62 at Morocco & Rochester & 68 at Lebanon.

A narrow, low-topped squall line along the surface cold front is possible in the afternoon.  It will likely form right on-top of the viewing area or in our eastern half.  I may produce severe weather, in the form of damaging winds, to our east & southeast, as well as pea to marble-sized hail.

Low stratus deck will rotate into the area Wednesday night as temperatures crash into the 30s with some snow showers possible Thursday morning.  Thursday looks cold & blustery, but another BIG TEMPERATURE SWING will occur to end the week, with perhaps 57-62 degrees.

It was mild Sunday & Monday & Tuesday look mild to warm, but Wednesday looks downright warm with highs in the 60s.  This will force the American Elms & Silver maples in blossom & push the daffodils forward after being burned by recent cold.

Nonetheless, Sunday’s warmer, sunny day brought out the first of the early spring birds that I have seen.  They were active & in song.  This is one of the first signs of spring.  These species I observed (& heard & saw in song) today just at the house, working outside:

Red-winged Blackbirds usually return in late February & begin to congregate in flocks before dispersing & establishing their territories in spring.  I have always felt the Red-wings’ return & song was a sign of spring.

Heard my first decent number of Song Sparrows in the field behind the house today.  You start hearing them sing in the first warm days of late winter-early spring.

I heard & saw the first of the Killdeers back with several in the wet, marshy field behind the house.  They usually nest there on some of mud flats each spring.  Too bad they are going to build houses there, that marshy meadow is full of different bird species in the summer.

I saw the first substantial number of American robins today, including the first one I had heard in full song since last summer.

Had male & females Eastern Bluebirds on the fence today, which is a refreshing sign of spring.  I need to get nest boxes mounted!

Saw my first Common Grackle.  They usually return when the Red-winged Blackbirds return at the end of February.