Damp and cool weather entering the weekend, but month will end with strong warm up

HISTORIC STORM

On this date 34 years ago the LARGEST OCTOBER snowfall on record. 7.5″ of snow fell in on this date. The three-day total exceeded 9″! Below the front page of the following the storm October 20th, 1989.

October 18, the earliest date on record for measurable snow for the city. Officially .2″ fell by midnight, but we would go on to receive a total of 9.3″ of snow from the 18th to the 20th.

Trees and power lines toppled under the weight of the heavy/wet snow. Only 10 Octobers on record have produced a measurable snow – the last time in 2014 with .1″. Prior to 2014, 1993 had 2.4″.

Scanning weather records, October is the month that the first flakes fall. 42 Octobers on record have produced a trace or more of snow – that’s 30 percent. (Snowfall records date back 139 years.)

DAMP AND COOL ENTERING THE WEEKEND

Showers were scattering and ending late day across central Indiana after delivering around a quarter inch of rainfall. A localized heavy downpour occurred under a thunder some in northern Tipton County and across Howard County where rainfall jumped to around one inch.

Additional showers and a few downpours are set to returning late night/pre-dawn Friday as a series of waves or disturbances ride a northwest flow jet stream. An additional quarter inch of rain is possible early Friday before the rain quickly scattered and ends by early afternoon. Dry time is expected for Friday evening activities.

The next in the series of waves swings south early Saturday. Windy conditions will briefly elevate the temperatures before a cold front passes late day. Drier and cooler weather Sunday and Monday under mostly sunny skies.

Frosty conditions are possible early Monday, but a warmup is in the works for next week. The predominately cool patter the past few weeks is set to flip. The jet stream will buckle in the eastern US allowing for strong warming in the final week of October producing several 70-degree days. Late next week temperatures are expected to run as much as 15-degrees above normal.