November 6, 2005

Significant severe weather outbreak occurred in the Midwest & Lower Ohio Valley from the evening of November 5 to the early morning hours of November 6.  This included 8 tornadoes in Kentucky, Missouri & southern Indiana.  The southern Indiana F3 killed 22 people & injured 200, with extensive damage.  Another F3 hit south of this tornado track in western Kentucky.

In our viewing area, it was widespread straight-line wind damage that occurred in the southeastern half. Trees & powerlines were blown down in Covington with widespread trees & powerlines down across all of Montgomery County with widespread wind gusts of 70 mph reported.  Trees & powerlines were blown down in the Concord area of Tippecanoe County while a pole barn was destroyed near Flora, in Carroll County & a semi truck was overturned on I-65 3 miles north of Lebanon.  A trailer was flipped over north of Peru & widespread wind damage raked Howard County with signs, billboards, large trees & powerlines snapped.  Minor structural to homes was also reported.  The entire western half of Howard County was left in the dark after the storm, while many powerlines & poles were knocked down in Tipton & Boone counties.  Large limbs were torn off trees in Fulton County & a tree was knocked over in Logansport.

Measured & estimated wind gusts included 61 mph at Lebanon, 55 mph at the Purdue University Airport. 70 mph at Crawfordsville & 80 mph at Russiaville.

November 7, 1811

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on a gray, gloomy, drizzly & cool day.  This was followed by a very harsh winter of cold & deep snows.  In “The History of Odon, Indiana”, the book on the southwestern Indiana town’s history states that the winter of 1811 wiped out the buffalo populations east of the Mississippi River.  The Elfreth Family diary of Cass County states that 1811-12 was the coldest, snowiest winter in history (in the 1800s to early 1900s).

November 8, 1940

Fall 1940 was very mild.  In fact, at West Lafayette, the temperature did not drop to 36 degrees until November 7.  The low temperature was 28 on the 7^th & 30 on the 8^th.

The first hard freeze occurred November 12 with 22 degrees.  Even on November 21, it was 62 & highs were in the 50s & 60s November 17-22.  The high on November 30 was 56.

November 9, 1991

Unprecedented cold wave struck the area, the likes not seen since 1951, then 1906 & 1869 so early in the season.  Boswell dropped to an amazing 0 on November 8.  Lows of 2 & 7 were recorded on the 9 & 10^th with highs only in the lower 20s.

At Crawfordsville, the 8, 9 & 10^th saw low temperatures of 3, 3 & 8, Rochester 13, 12 & 13.  Frankfort had lows of 9 & 11 on the 8 & 9^th.  Kentland dropped to 1 on the 8 & 9^th.  Kokomo dropped to 3 & 5 & Romney 7 & 5 & Logansport 14 & 13.  Perrysville had 0 & 8.

At West Lafayette, low temperatures of 7 & 8 were recorded November 8 & 9, 1991.  Attica dropped to 7 on both days with highs only in the mid 20s.

These temperatures followed a 1-5” snowfall event across the viewing area.

November 10, 1846

1846 had a very late fall with warm weather well into November & even December.  It was so mild in November that apple blossoms opened in November & some red maples were reportedly blossoming around Thanksgiving.  “Seldom any frost” was written in late November & the ground had yet to freeze any as of November 25.  It was also a very dry fall after a hot, very dry summer…………the worst since the torrid, droughty summer of 1838 & 1841.

November 11, 1911

Extreme cold front blasts through area, dropping temperature from (highs in the 70s) near 71° to 35° in minutes.  It is accompanied by a violent squall line that produced widespread wind damage across the area & several tornadoes to our south, west, northwest & northeast.  Structural damage is reported in Lafayette & West Lafayette, as well at Attica & Crawfordsville to Monticello, Morocco, Rensselaer & Delphi.  A tornado was reported in Montgomery County, but I could not locate confirmation in NOAA records.  Following the line of storms, rain changed to snow quickly with near 1 to 3” accumulations driven by “a gale”.  Temperatures then dropped into the single digits.

November 12, 1880

November 1880 was the coldest, snowiest November on record for the viewing area.  After a mild start to the month with 50s & 60s (with some storms), accumulating wet snow fell on the 6^th (with strong winds of up to 45 mph).  Numerous snowfall events of 2-5”(with up to 10” of lake effect) followed, as Arctic air rushed in & settled.  This, combined with frequently strong winds & the some of the coldest November weather commenced November 12-30.  The heavy lake effect snows also brought record November accumulations to our northern counties.

The worst of the record cold (records that still remain unbroken today), with lows in the single digits to below zero, occurred with a deep snow pack November 18-23.  Only the November 1950 cold wave came close to the 1880 mid & late November cold outbreak for intensity & persistence.

November 13, 1833

“Greatest meteoritic display on record occurred”, according to residents in Cass County.  Robert Reed Sr. described it as “rockets” with “thick streams of rolling fire……grand and awful……illuminated the whole heavens.”

November 14, 1997

Early-season winter weather dumps snow across the area.  By the time it stops, 7” falls at Rochester, 6.3” falls at Wheatfield, 6.2” Tipton, 4.7” Whitestown, 4.5” Perrysville & Winamac, 4.1” Jamestown, 3.6” Kokomo, 3.5” Remington, 3.1” Morocco & Monticello, 3” Logansport & Rensselaer, 2.8” West Lafayette, 2” Fowler & 1.9” Pence.

November 15, 1955

2” hail Montgomery County with 2.25” hail in Boone County as severe weather event produces at least 5 tornadoes in the state.  In Indiana, 18 were injured with $260,500 in damage from the tornadoes.

November 16, 1988

Widespread damaging straight-line t’storm winds passed in our northwest counties with gusts to 70 mph in Newton County.

November 17, 1978

F1 tornado strikes Cass County during the late morning hours as a squall line passes.  $25,000 in damage was done to farms, as the twister was on the ground for 1 mile.  Straight-line wind damage was reported in Fulton County.

November 17, 1832

A strong late fall storm system spawned severe weather in at least parts of the Plains & Midwest.

Most likely, a QLCS squall line of storms blasted central & southern Illinois to Indiana with strong winds with t’storms reported at Lafayette & Logansport.  Very cold air with flurries followed the storm after unseasonably warm air ahead of the storms.

According to diary at Fort Snelling, Minnesota (Minneapolis), it was mild & well into the 50s just prior to November 17, followed by an unseasonably early Arctic with a high of just 15 on November 18 after 8 in the morning. Diary indicates a very, very warm, summer-like fall at Fort Snelling with warm weather (mid 60s) in early November.

Temperatures fell from high of 66 to 28 in eastern Ohio.

An account of a tornado northeast of St. Louis, in southwestern Illinois was given in local press:

In the mean time, the sound had engaged the attention of MR. LUTTRELL, living more than a mile to the west. Concluding that it must be fire, he caught his hat and walked quickly to meet it. It was nearly stationary, exhibiting a dense column of smoke and cinder. What confirmed him to the belief that the smoke proceeded from a bed of coal was, its density, and the peculiar motion of the smoke, undulating, yet boiling up, like water in a vast cauldron over an intense fire. He continued very moderately to advance, but had not adventured more than 15 or 18 feet, as he conjectured, within the volume of smoke, when the tornado, as it seemed to him, gathered tremendous strength. He instantly turned to retreat, but had not turned more than half round, before he was raised from his feet entirely in the power of the wind.
As he rose in the air, the smoke and cinder seemed instantly drawn to the centre, so that objects near the circumference of the tornado, were distinctly visible. While riding round, he reached down to catch hold of a sapling, about 18 feet high, but could not reach it. After riding the engire circuit of the tornado, he was thrown out about two rods beyond the point from which he was taken up. Thus far he possessed his reason; but his stroke on the ground instantly deprived him of sense. He lay senseless, according to the best calculation of time passed from leaving his house, about an hour and a half.
After coming to his senses, he lay about half an hour before he could rise. He then looked around; all was calm; no indication of a coal mine or fire; and with difficulty he walked home.
No bone was broken by the fall, and after three days, he was able to be abroad a little, though he had not entirely recovered on the 1st of December.

November 18, 1848

Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis seen throughout the Midwest.

November 19, 1985

Squall line with flooding rainfall & pockets of damaging straight-line winds knocked down trees, limbs & powerlines in 12 of our 17 counties in the viewing area.  The stormy, very wet weather caused delays in the filming of Hoosiers at New Richmond & caused many of the scenes to still have corn standing in fields.  This was a result of the harvest delays associated with the very wet November.

November 20, 1856
Unseasonable warmth is proceeded by an outbreak of severe t’storms with tornadoes on November 21.

Numerous trees were reportedly blown down between Logansport & Kokomo.  Between Logansport “& the Michigan Road” many trees were blown down.  A tornado reportedly damaged factories, gables & homes in Logansport.  Railroad was bent & broken by fallen trees.  A swath of timber was devastated & bridge destroyed near Lagro, in Wabash County.
“On the line of the Michigan road between this city many trees wore blown down and damage between here and Kokomo trees wore blown on the track of the rail breaking or bending it. In the country &  the of timber is this city has been (undiscernable) force [of the wind].  Tipton’s brick on Fourth street was so effected that coiling joist of the the roof fell and broke through the upper floor of the tin.  The gable of the stone residence was blown down with the chimneys of E. Adam. [?] were blown down and broke the roof injuring its owner.  The chimneys on the residence of M. Forrell were blown down.”

“Considerable damage” was reported near Peru.

November 21, 1908

It was a very warm November in 1908, but not quite as warm as the record warm one in 1931.  Nonetheless, today marked the 11^th time in November of ’08 that the thermometer equated or exceeded 60 degrees at Rensselaer (which included 72° on the 19^th & 67 ° on the 24^th).  This was the 8^th such occurrence at West Lafayette, which included 70° on the 24^th.  Following the 25^th, two more days had 60s at West Lafayette & one at Rensselaer.

November 22, 1992

Two damaging tornadoes tore through Montgomery County of F1 (600’ wide) & F3 (half mile wide) strength.  Damage amounted to $275 million with combined path length of 10.5 miles.  Ping-pong & golfball hail accompanied the storm.

November 23, 1874

A very strong storm system with it pressure down to 975 mb near Kankakee, Illinois (Category 2 hurricane equivalent) was exiting the region.  It brought non-t’storm wind gusts to 60 mph early in the morning as it raced from Kankakee to Detroit to Toronto.  The powerhouse storm brought rain & highs in the 50s to us (followed by 30s), but a severe weather outbreak from the Tennessee Valley to the Deep South with tornadoes.  Many limbs were knocked down & some trees uprooted by the strength of the wind on the low’s backside.

November 24, 1881

The coldest Thanksgiving on record occurred in the viewing area.  Highs were only near 20 with lows near 8.

November 25, 1857   

One of the worst November cold outbreaks on record occurred in the area after 4-8” of snowfall.  Widespread readings of -15 to -5 occurred in the Midwest.  An early record-keeper had a low of -17° on this date in Allen County, Indiana.  At Indianapolis, the weather record entry read “weather uncommonly severe” on this date with 0° at sunrise & only 18° at 2 p.m.  7” of snow was on the ground on this date in Lafayette with snow reportedly on the ground for “5 days”.  On the 19^th through the 25^th, 2 p.m. temperatures did not exceed the teens at Lafayette, or Indianapolis. It was also a very wet month overall with 7.24″ of rainfall recorded at Indianapolis for November 1857.  Lafayette was said to have had a ”very wet, snowy, uncommonly cold month” with “fields totally unfit for work”.

November 26, 1965

More strong tornadoes hit parts of the viewing area in the active severe weather year of 1965.  On this date, late season severe weather outbreak hit Indiana with F2 & F3 tornadoes in Boone County.  The F3 moved into Hamilton County, injuring 5.  Overall, 6 large F3 tornadoes hit Indiana on this date.  Damage in Boone County was as high as $500,000 with total damage in Indiana at $1.5 million (1965 dollars).

November 27, 1887

After a long, hot, dry summer & fall & even a warm start to November (74 on November 3^rd at West Lafayette), welcome 2-5” rains fell across the area to end the month.  3.45” fell at West Lafayette November 24-27.

However, this was a very strong storm system with lots of wind, t’storms, a severe weather outbreak in the southern U.S & an early Arctic Blast.

After a high of 60 early in the morning on November 27, the mercury fell all day at West Lafayette with “a gale”, 0.3 to up to 2” of snow area-wide.  It was 11 by midnight (a drop of 49 degrees!) & crashed to 1 by morning (a drop of 59 degrees in 24 hours!) with clear skies & calming winds with over some snow pack.  However, after 1 that morning, in true Indiana fashion, the thermometer reached 55 by December 4.

//

//

//