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 is devastated & bridge destroyed near Lagro, in Wabash County.
On the line of the Michigan road between this city and 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 though not as much as been anticipated from the force of the Tipton’s brick on Fourth street was so effected that coiling joist the rouf fell and broke through the floor of the upper and the tin Vius The on the sast gable of the stone residence of wore blown down with a portion of the gable Tiie chimneys on tlie of E. Adams were blown down and broke the roof of the injuring it The chimneys on the residence of M. Forrell were blown down and other was ilone to

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

One the coldest Thanksgivings on record occurred in the viewing area (ranking with the brutally cold Thanksgiving of 1930).  Highs were only in the teens with lows in the single digits.

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 26, 1859

Severe weather in the region.

Storms “prostrate trees” in Fountain County

According to NWS Lincoln:

A tornado moved northeast across Pontiac during the late afternoon. Homes, stores and barns were destroyed by this tornado. No deaths were reported.

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.

November 27, 1909

1909 featured the second consecutive, exceptionally mild November.  On this date, the mercury hit 68° at Rensselaer, part of a 5-day stretch of temperatures in the 60s to even near 70°. In fact, in November 1909, the temperature did not even drop below freezing until the 18^th!  Other highs on that day include West Lafayette at 69°, Crawfordsville 68° & Logansport 69°.  The coldest temperature the entire month at West Lafayette was just 26° with only 7 mornings where the mercury was at or below freezing.

November 28, 1854

Drought lingered into fall 1854 after a hot, dry summer.  Temperatures were as high as 107° in the summer of ‘54, which equaled the hot, dry summers of 1838,1838, 1840, 1841, 1860, 1880 & 1881.  1854 was part of a multi-year drought in the region with some form of summer drought in the viewing area in 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, & 1856.  The dryness had peaks (severe category) in 1851 & 1854, before major rains occurred in summer 1855 & 1857 with major floods in spring 1858.  However, by late summer 1858, very dry weather returned with corn “rolled up” & “suffering” with ground “hard as stone”.

November 29, 1974

November came to an end with a winter storm arriving to the viewing area.  By the time the snow came to an end on the 30^th, 8.8” of snow had accumulated at Kokomo, 8.6” at Crawfordsville, 8” Logansport, 7.5” Kentland, 7.3” at Delphi, 6” Peru, 5.5” at Romney, 5.1” West Lafayette & 5” at Whitestown.

Contrastingly, this was the warmest Thanksgiving on record with highs in the lower 70s area-wide in 1900.  The Thanksgiving of 1896 was also very warm with highs in the upper 60s to 70 area-wide.  West Lafayette reportedly hit 71° in 1900 & 67° in 1896.

November 30, 1991

Shortly after midnight, a long-lived QLCS squall line with an embedded derecho of widespread damaging straight-line winds of 60-80 mph passed through viewing area.  Wind damage was reported in Newton, Jasper, Benton, Tippecanoe, Clinton, Miami & Montgomery counties.

Winds gusted to 100 mph just southeast of the viewing area in Hendricks County.

December 1, 1905

A winter storm with rain, freezing rain, sleet & snow struck the area on this date.  Ice accumulations were as high as 1/4″ with a coating of sleet.  It was nearly/all glaze ice in our southern counties, but central & northern counties received 1-4″ of snow with the glaze ice & sleet.  Crawfordsville picked up 0.95″ of melted freezing rain with a bit of sleet, while West Lafayette had 0.62″of precipitation melted from glaze ice, sleet & 1″ of snow.  The 0.70″ of liquid at Whitestown was largely freezing rain with some rain.  Kokomo measured 0.70″ of liquid with part of that the 1.5″ of snow.

December 2, 1837

An early morning likely derecho brought a “violent gale” with damage to the area.  “Scores of trees were uprooted” by the t’storms.  Temperatures fell rapidly from unseasonable 60s & 70 ° to 30s.  Scenario bears superficial resemblance (although observational data is scant) to the derecho of December 1998.  The storm system brough unusually warm weather to not only our area, but as far north as northern New York, where 64° was recorded at Governeur, New York at 7 a.m. on December 3.

A pelting sleet storm on the night of December 1-2 was reported at Fort Snelling (at present-day Minneapolis, Minnesota).  The sleet melted down to 1.15” liquid.

December 3, 1998

1998 had a very mild late fall & early winter.  Today was the 6^th day since November 27 that the temperature was at or above 60°.  3 more days would be above 60° until 70s & a strong cold front would end the streak on December 7.

December 4, 1982

Today was the third consecutive day with a record high temperature in the very warm December of 1982.  In fact, these three days had highs above 70°, before additional records were broken December 25, 26 & 27 with highs in the 60s.  The winter of 1982-83 was unprecedented for its lack of snowfall & appreciable cold caused by one of the strongest El Ninos on record in the Pacific & a persistent, positive NAO & AO.

December 5, 1991

Unusual Arctic outbreak welcomed December with not much snow cover (1-2” snowfall in parts of Newton, Jasper & Pulaski counties with trace to 0.8” elsewhere).  The temperature fell to 1° at West Lafayette, Rensselaer & Attica, Boswell -1°, Kentland 0°, Crawfordsville, Frankfort, Kokomo, Romney, Rochester, Jamestown & Delphi 2°, Wheatfield, Winamac & Logansport 3.  Interestingly, on December 9, temperatures soared in the 60s with 65° at Kentland & Delphi, 64° at Attica & 62° at Frankfort.

December 6, 1998

Between 12:30 & 2:15 a.m., a serial derecho with widespread straight-line winds of 60-70 mph with cores of 90-100 mph gusts blasted through the area.  University Hall on the Purdue campus had major roof damage totaling $100,000.  The wind blew over a 35-car freight train in Carroll County near Rockfield, while the third story of a Total Discount store in Logansport collapsed & fell into a restaurant.  A grain bin was blown over near Walton & a barn was partially unroofed.  At Peru, several buildings & homes were damaged in the city with the roof blown off a warehouse. A mobile home was destroyed near the city & another was overturned while trees fell on automobiles near Logansport.  Widespread tree, powerline & barn/farm damage occurred area-wide.  A wind gust of 82 mph was recorded at Grissom Air Reserve Base & 77 mph at West Lafayette.  The only hail report was 0.75” at Wheatfield.  Record warmth with highs of 68-74° preceded the storms & just prior to storm passage just after midnight, temperatures were still 65-70°.

December 7, 1927

From the 7th to the 8^th, the temperature fell from 55° to 3° at West Lafayette as an Arctic cold front blasted through with strong winds.  This occurred after 1-2” of rainfall on the 7^th.  At Rensselaer, the temperature fell from 53° to 3°, at Kokomo 55° to 5°, Crawfordsville went from 56° to 6°, Wheatfield crashed from 52° to 0° & Whitestown 54° to 4°.  Southeast of Indianapolis as Rushville, the mercury went from an astonishing 65° to 6° in 24 hours.

The 1.53” of rainfall at Wheatfield to the 1.11” at Crawfordsville to 0.93” at Kokomo & 1.32” at West Lafayette caused ponding in fields that froze solid nearly instantly with passage of the front.

December 8, 1966

Rare December severe weather event produces F2 tornadoes in Jasper & Montgomery counties.  1 person was injured in Jasper County with additional straight-line wind damage in White & parts of Montgomery County.  The wettest December day on record occurred at Logansport with this event when 3.20” rain fell.

December 9, 1930

1930 had the driest December on record for part of the viewing area.  Precipitation totals amounted to just 0.16” at Frankfort, 0.23” Logansport, 0.24” West Lafayette, Crawfordsville 0.43” & Kokomo 0.48” for the month.

December 10, 1971

QLCS squall line with damaging straight-line winds moved through central & southern Indiana.  Straight-line wind damage with gusts to 65 mph occurred in Montgomery & Boone counties.

December 11, 1967

7 tornadoes are confirmed in Indiana along with damaging straight-line winds as strong low pressure moved north-northeastward from Memphis, Tennessee to northwest Michigan.  One person was injured from an F1 in Putnam County & wind gusts to 65 mph occurred in southeast Montgomery & Boone counties.  After such a wet, cool fall, only 60-70% of the soybean & corn crop in Indiana & Illinois was harvested.  Tornadoes & damaging winds damaged & even flattened acres & acres of crops.  Structural damage from the tornadoes alone amounted to $358,000 (1967 dollars).   Many other tornadoes, wind & hail occurred in the southeastern United States with damage in the millions of dollars.  Just 10 days later, another significant severe weather outbreak would occur in the same regions of Indiana with more heavy rainfall, which continued to delay the harvest.

//