Indiana Historical Weather Statistics

[Chicago WX]

Ever since NCDC made all of the historical weather data free to the public, I've been pouring over the data for Indiana. My intent is to share various weather records for the four major, long standing, locations of Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, and South Bend.

First up, various tidbits on Indianapolis breaking the March record for warmest on record.

-An average temperature of 56.6 for IND this March. It bests the previous March record of 51.9 (1910 and 1946) by 4.7 degrees. Sort of interesting, but the coldest March on record, 26.2 in 1960, is 4.8 degrees colder than the second coldest on record of 31.0 in 1906.

-Looking at the individual monthly records, here's the greatest differences between first and second place. Four of the six are cold records. Both the warmest and coldest Januaries and Marches make the list and/or take up the top four. Data for Indianapolis dates back to 1871.

5.2 - January 1880 (45.0) and January 2006 (39.8)

4.8 - March 1960 (26.2) and March 1906 (31.0)

4.7 - March 2012 (56.6) and March 1910/1946 (51.9)

4.3 - January 1977 (10.3) and January 1918 (14.6)

3.5 - November 1880 (31.1) and November 1976 (34.6)

2.3 - April 1907 (43.3) and April 1961 (45.6)

-March 2012 is the first warm monthly record set at Indianapolis since the one it broke, March 1946 (tied with 1910). August 1936 is now the "nearest" warm monthly record. In other words, every month other than March 2012 has monthly warm records that pre-date August 1936. Of course, all of them were when the official site was located within the city limits of Indianapolis (1871 to 1942). The airport, which a new one was moved a bit farther southwest away from the city in 2008, has been the official site since 1943.

-67.1 was the warmest average max temperature ever recorded in March, besting the previous record of 62.5 in 1910.

-The average min temperature of 46.1 was 4.1 degrees higher than the previous March record of 42.0 set in 1946.

-On the topic of record warm min temperatures for Indianapolis, November 1931 (44.6) is now the "most recent", other than March 2012.

[Chicago WX]

Indianapolis: coldest and warmest Marches on record comparison.

Daily records tied or broken highlighted in blue and red. For 1960, some have been broken since then, but were records at the time.

Departures based off their respective values at the time.

The range between the lowest and highest max temps in 1960 was 63 degrees (13 vs 76)

The range between the lowest and highest max temps in 2012 was 46 degrees (38 vs 84)

The range between the lowest and highest min temps in 1960 was 61 degrees (-6 vs 55)

The range between the lowest and highest min temps in 2012 was 39 degrees (25 vs 64)

The range between the lowest and highest temp in 1960 was 82 degrees (-6 vs 76)

The range between the lowest and highest temp in 2012 was 59 degrees (25 vs 84)

[Chicago WX]

April 2012 will finish with an average temperature colder than March 2012 for Indianapolis. This is only the second time that has happened in recorded history, with respect to the March/April combination. The chart below shows other "unique" monthly combinations for Indianapolis throughout recorded history (since 1871).

Colder March versus February: 10 times

Colder April versus March: 2 times

Colder May versus April: 0 times

Colder June versus May: 1 time

Colder July versus June: 7 times

Colder August versus July: 25 times

Warmer September versus August: 2 times

Warmer October versus September: 1 time

Warmer November versus October: 1 time

Warmer December versus November: 5 times

Warmer January versus December: 38 times

Colder February versus January: 41 times