Thought it would be interesting to look at snowfall climatology for Indianapolis in December. I know snow lovers are disappointed with how this month is panning out, but Indy has had some big-time December snows! Maybe this will give you some hope for snow. 🙂 History shows a WIDE range in snowfall, even several years with no recorded snow. On the other hand, there are a couple years that have produced over 20″ in the month alone. 1973 still stands as the snowiest December in Indianapolis with 27.5″. That is more than Indy averages in the whole winter! As an average of all the up/down years, Indy averages ~6.9″ for December. I wanted to look at the top 10 snowiest Decembers in Indy. What’s very interesting is that FIVE of those have occurred since 2000!! I highlighted those in yellow:
To break things down further, here are the top 10 biggest single snow events Indy has received during the month. Any of these events come to mind?
Note more recent events in 2002, 2004, & 2005! It’s hard to find much data for the 2002 event, but an event that I’m sure sticks out in your mind is the pre-Christmas storm of 2004. Especially if you were in southern/eastern Indiana at the time, where HISTORIC snow amounts fell. We hear of events like in January 78, but the 2004 event doesn’t get enough attention. This storm produced more snow than the Blizzard of 78 for parts of the area. This storm trapped folks on interstates in southern Indiana, roads were impassable for days during the heart of Christmas travel, and several roofs collapsed due to the weight of the snow. Here is a rough map showing the snowfall totals and track of this storm. This storm produced “once in a generation” type snow totals in southern Indiana.
These were actually two storm systems developing along a quasi-stationary boundary that brought a double whammy to the region. Here is what the radar looked like back on the night of the 21st into the 22nd showing the first wave moving across the region, and the 2nd wave developing over Texas.
By the evening of the 22nd, the next and stronger system moves over the region bringing tremendous snowfall across the Ohio Valley, even some thundersnow!
Check out the swath of winter storm warnings that were issued during this event:
Here are more specific snow totals recorded in parts of southern Indiana. Note up to 30″ was observed.
That was one incredible event to witness, and I’m thankful I was able to experience this event. This occurred around the time when I really became interested in weather. We had our family Christmas at my grandparents house, where 2 feet of snow fell. It’s very hard to find footage of the event, but I did find this video from Salem, Indiana taken just after the event.
If you are a weather nerd and want to read more about this winter storm, check out this informative paper of this event from Illinois State Water Survey: https://www.isws.illinois.edu/pubdoc/CR/ISWSCR2005-03.pdf
Do you plow snow in the winter, and tired of depending on free weather sources that change on a dime? You can inquire for our forecasting services by going to bamwx.com/contact-us or e-mail [email protected]! We’d love to help your snow-removal business this winter season with accurate forecasts, 24/7 on-call service, and certified snow totals! Have a great day!
-Nathan Kitchens
