Rain, Rain, Rain...

It is just past 9 AM and we already have nearly an inch of rain since midnight. I think it will be a couple of soggy days before we have a perfect weekend!

Today after work will be a good time to roll the yard!

Tomorrow might be a stormy day in central Indiana. Stay Tuned...

Wednesdays Storms (Chase Report)

Wednesday was a very exciting day for storms. The weather was cool but was also unstable to produce 4 tornadoes and additional reports of hail and wind damage. The storms did move more north than I earlier predicted but still never made it quite as far as Howard County.

In fact Howard County and Kokomo went unscathed from the storms. I know around a 1/2 dozen or so spotters went mobile and a couple more stayed home to provide updates of information. I did both electing to go mobile around 6:20 and initially went south. I stopped to take a nice photograph of a double rainbow just south of the Intersection of Malfalfa Rd and 100 South.

I did travel south on US 31 to the county line and then decided to head back to 26 and go west. My gut said to go south and intersect the cell which seemed strong moving northwest of Indianapolis in Boone Co but I didn't follow it. So I ended up missing the chance for a small EF2 twister in near Arcadia.

My travel out west near Russiaville did show me a good storm front moving in. The was the second of 2 cold fronts and this is looking north with the sun shining to the east. It didn't take long for this squall line to pass and by 7:30, I could see clear sky in the west so I headed home.


If you would like some additional information on the April 11 tornadoes including locations and photos, the National Weather Service in Indianapolis has it available here. A full report of activity nationwide is also here.

If you did happen to monitor the repeater (147.240 MHZ), it was very casual in conversation since the Skywarn net for spotters was never officially activated. When we are activated, it should be much more organized.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 126

Much of Indiana and some of Kentucky is under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 11 PM. It looks to be bumpy weather while the line of storms moves across the area. The bulk for Howard County is 6:45 to 8:00 PM looking at the radar at this point.

I don't expect anything severe beyond some strong winds and small hail but as usually, stay tuned to local media for up to the minutes updates. You can also monitor the local Skywarn net should it go active at 147.240 MHz with any police/racing scanner you have available.

The first TOR warning has went active for southern Boone Co. This is just a radar signature and nothing confirmed on the ground.

Barometer Falling

You can see a nice drop in the barometer over the past 24 hours. A strong low pressure is moving in from southern Illinois. It is around 990 millibars and if the temps were higher, we would have some good old fashioned spring storms or colder air would result in some snow. Instead we getting a steady rain on a very gloomy and miserable day.

Edit at 3:15 in the afternoon and she is still dropping and some potential for low topped isolated supercells might become a factor over the early evening. There are some storms firing in IL but nothing severe yet. It is a good thing temperatures are not 70+ today. The low is now at 988 millibars and is just east of St. Louis. I would say hail could be the biggest threat of the day however I think everything will stay south of I-70 for the most part.

BUST!

Well I was fully expecting a big day of storms. In fact things really got a good start this morning in the neighboring states. However, nothing ever came of it in Howard county. The Indianapolis metro area and southern Indiana did see some thunderstorm warnings with rain, hail, and some wind.

So today is a bust by all standards.

>>>STORMS ON THE WAY<<<

We are having storms in IL and MO just touching Indiana on the western edge. Look for hail and strong winds and possible tornadoes. The SPC still have just a moderate risk out for today but anything is possible with the 1630Z forecast.

I will be out spotting/chasing sometime this afternoon and evening.

One Day Closer

We are one day closer to Tuesday and things still seem very ripe for a solid outbreak of severe weather. The low pressure clipping NW Indiana with the worm front ahead of it and the cold front behind it will make a strong starting point for isolated thunderstorms early before they turn linear.

Things will begin early afternoon with storms in Kokomo/Howard County mid afternoon. If you are out, I suggest pay close attention to conditions and if at home, make sure you have the radio or TV on.

You can get watch and warning updates online too. The Kokomo-Weather.com website has them available here. (Reminder that any weather data on the Internet is subject to possible interruptions. Please keep that in mind.)

Here is the latest convective outlook from the SPC. Tomorrow is still a slight risk but I am sure there will be a moderate risk before noon tomorrow unless the forecasting models make a radical change overnight.

Another Spring Week In Indiana

Last Wednesday turned out to be a non-event in Indiana but was quite active in the central plains. Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas saw a significant outbreak of tornadoes with 71 reported. The report from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) can be found here - http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/070328_rpts.html

Today was a windy one in the area. The afternoon clouds looked pretty ominous but that was about it.

This week will bring another chance for storms with Tuesday looking to be a very good chance for severe weather in all of Indiana. The current 3 day outlook from the SPC which is the most general of the convective outlooks gives us a 30% outlook.

It will be worth watching to see what happens and the next hint will be the what the SPC does with a more detailed 2 day outlook.

Now for the really bad news, forecasters are talking cold wintry weather at the end of the week including some snow flakes. Ugh!