Revisiting record-breaking October 1989 snow in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — October shouldn’t be usually a time during which we take into consideration wintry climate. As a substitute, we’re centered on these crisp and funky fall days as we transition in the direction of the general winter season.

Nevertheless, an enormous present of snow made its method to our doorstep in mid-October of 1989 over a span of three days.

The lead-up to this snow occasion was relatively bewildering because of the truth that on Oct. 16, 1989, parts of south central Indiana handled extreme thunderstorms. Two days in a while Oct. 18th, Indianapolis was receiving its earliest recorded snowfall thus far with 0.2 inches. The common date of the primary measurable snowfall right here in Indy is November nineteenth, and we had been solely simply getting began.

There was an intense upper-level low stress system sitting over the Missouri bootheel. This enabled heat and moist air to rise into our space and override colder floor air that was occurring. By 7 AM EST on Oct. nineteenth, 5 to 6 inches of snow had already fallen throughout parts of central Indiana. The heavy, moist snow gave method to a difficulty with massive accumulations being observed on powerlines and timber. This induced scattered energy outages to transpire.

General, October nineteenth could be the large day of this occasion.

By the point the system left our space, Indianapolis wound up with a lofty 9.3 inches complete from everything of the occasion. Kokomo received in on essentially the most quantity of snow general with a staggering 10.5 inches. Different areas equivalent to east of Hartford Metropolis (5″), Cloverdale (5.5″), and Noblesville (8″) additionally acquired a little bit of snow.

To place this occasion into perspective, October 1989 is kind of the rarity when it comes to October snow. In comparison with the snowiest October’s on file, 1989 is primary by miles. Indianapolis’s snowiest months are December, January, and February.

This technique additionally gave method to pretty chilly temperatures with Indianapolis recording the bottom excessive temperature for October nineteenth on file with a excessive of solely 35°.