We're into the new year and it's traditionally our coldest time of year. We'll dive into what kind of weather we can expect in January, but first a quick look back at the extremes we dealt with in 2018.
Remember the summer sizzle for the 102nd running of the Indy 500? We topped out at 91° that day, making it the second hottest 500 on record. The day after that, Memorial Day, was our hottest of the year heating up to 95°.
By sharp contrast, 2018 started off with record cold. On the second day of the year, the temperature dropped to a frigid -12°.
When you think spring, you probably think rain. We had lots of that on April 3rd last year. Nearly four inches of rain fell. Not long before that, we had our biggest snow of the year. We had to wait until March 24th to pick-up more than 10" of snow in one event.
Snow isn't likely to add up in Central Indiana any time soon. The outlook through the first half of January is for above average temperatures. A switch to some colder air is expected for the second half of the month, but may not offset our warm start. The result is an outlook from the Climate Prediction Center calling for "Equal Chances" of at, below or above average temperatures. Our average high is in the mid 30s, with an average low around 21°.
Let's go back to those snow and rain chances for a minute. The outlook calls for "Below Average" precipitation. That's pretty typical of an El Nino winter weather pattern for Central Indiana. A typical January brings about 2.6" of rain and more than 8" of snow.
