Happy meteorological summer, everyone! Whether you’re ready or not, summer is here…well, at least meteorologically. While the official start of summer according to the astronomical calendar is the summer solstice on Thursday, June 20, meteorological summer began on June 1. This distinction is important because meteorological seasons are based on annual temperature cycles and divide[Read More…]
Austin Pearson
The 2023-2024 meteorological winter (December, January, and February) has concluded, but it seems as if we only experienced a couple weeks of winter-like weather this season. Indiana’s average temperature was 35.8°F, which was 5.3°F above normal. This was good for Indiana’s second warmest winter since records began in 1895. The warmest winter on record was[Read More…]
The fall crisp was in the air this morning (9/13), so cool that I had to grab that sweatshirt I bought in mid-August while getting my kiddo on the bus. It was actually refreshing, in a sense. Minimum temperatures in Crawfordsville (Montgomery County) and Rensselaer (Jasper County) dropped to 44F this morning, which were the[Read More…]
Over the last 30 days (July 18-August 15), the state average temperature was 73.5◦F, which was essentially normal. Average temperatures ranged from 0.9◦F below normal in northwestern Indiana to 0.5◦F above normal in southern Indiana (Figure 1). The heat was not missing, though, as July 26 through 28 was rather warm across the Midwest. Minimum[Read More…]
Below-normal temperatures continued through the first 21 days of June as the state average temperature was 68.3°F, which was 1.8°F below the 1991-2020 climatological normal. Temperature departures were 1-5°F below normal across the state, with larger departures in eastern and southern Indiana (Figure 1, Left). Maximum temperatures were near normal for the entire state, and[Read More…]
The weather has been absolutely beautiful over the past few days. Temperatures have finally rebounded, vegetation is green again, and agricultural crops are beginning to emerge from the freshly planted fields. Despite the warming temperatures, we still have not dug ourselves out of the below-normal start to May. Through the first ten days of the[Read More…]
Despite the cooler weather we’ve experienced the last couple of weeks, temperatures from April 1st through 26th averaged 2.3°F above normal for the entire state (Figure 1). Departures have steadily declined as the weather pattern shifted to cold and dry as a result of an upper atmosphere blocking pattern. Since April 21st, temperatures averaged 9-12°F[Read More…]
Much like March, April has gotten off to a warm start. Through the first eleven days, the state average temperature was 5.1◦F above the 1991-2020 climatological normal (Figure 1). High temperatures ranged from 60-70◦F, which was anywhere from 3-7◦F above normal. Low temperatures were not as anomalous, but slightly above normal for most of the[Read More…]
Meteorological spring started March 1st. Astronomical spring started March 20th. Baseball fans might consider the first day of spring to be Opening Day (March 29th this year). Regardless of when one defines the start of spring, so far it has been mostly on the cooler and wetter side. I have yet to meet anyone over[Read More…]
July temperatures averaged 1◦F above normal but had a couple of periods of extreme heat. Twelve stations recorded maximum temperatures in excess of 100◦F. Portions of the month were cooler than normal, which gave way to warmer temperatures again in the last week of July. The heat and humidity continued during the first week of[Read More…]