A cold front and associated pressure gradient brought gusty winds to central Indiana late on the 27th and early on the 28th.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS IND wrote it up.
A cold front and associated pressure gradient brought gusty winds to central Indiana late on the 27th and early on the 28th.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 28, 12:15 AM EST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 1215 AM EST SUN DEC 28 2008 .AVIATION...DISCUSSION FOR 06Z TAFS. COLD FRONT SHOULD BE REACHING KLAF AND KHUF BY ABOUT 06Z AND KIND AND KBMG BY ABOUT 08Z. WINDS BEHIND THE FRONT WILL VEER TO THE NW. A PRESSURE COUPLET COULD MAKE CONDITIONS QUITE GUSTY FOR A FEW HOURS AND BUFKIT SHOWS GUSTS AROUND 40 KTS OR MORE AFTER FROPA. NO VSBY RESTRICTIONS EXPECTED AND CIGS SHUD BE MOSTLY MVFR TO START AND THEN IMPROVE TO VFR BY LATE MORNING BASED ON UPSTREAM OBS AND THE UPR LOW MOVING THRU TO THE N OF THE AREA. && .PREV DISCUSSION... MAIN CHALLENGE TO THE FCST WL BE IN THE SHORT TERM REGARDING GRADIENT WINDS...SEVERE POTENTIAL..QPF AND CVRG TNGT AS A STG CD FNT MOVES THROUGH. REGIONAL RADAR WAS SHOWING A LINE OF SVR TRWS ACRS WCNTRL IL INTO SWRN MO JUST AHEAD OF A APCHG STG CD FNT. MEANWHILE...STG SRLY LOW LVL RETURN FLOW AHEAD OF THE FNT HAS BUMPED TEMPS INTO THE 60S ACRS ALL OF CNTRL INDIANA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. FINALLY...UA PATTERRN FEATURED A SHARP TROF ACRS THE HIGH PLAINS AND A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE JUST OF THE ERN SHORE. GFS CONTINUED TO BE A LITTLE BIT FASTER THAN THE NAM PUSHING THE CD FNT THROUGH TNGT. WL SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE AS EACH HAS SUPPORT FM OTHER MODELS. AT ANY RATE...WL MOVE THE FNT THROUGH QUICKLY IN THE 02Z-08Z TIME FRAME TNGT. SO...THE FNT AND THE ASSOCIATE RW ACTIVITY SHOULD MOVE THROUGH QUICKLY ENOUGH THAT A FLOOD WATCH WL NOT BE NEEDED DESPITE THE FNT INTERACTING WITH LOW LVL 70 KT JET...RR QUAD OF 125KT 250 MB JET AND PRECIP H20 VALUES TO 1.5 INCHES. HOWEVER...WRN HALF OF THE FA IS IN A SLGT RISK THIS EVENING FOR SEVERE WEATHER AS THE WCNTRL IL SQUALL LINE WL MOVE THROUGH. VERY STG MAINLY UNI-DIRECTIONAL SHEAR (SRHS GREATER THAN 500) BUT WEAK INSTABILITY (ML CAPES BLW 300 J/KG) FAVORS POSSIBILITY OF A FEW WIND DAMAGE EVENTS...ALTHOUGH WITH MAGNITUDE OF SHEAR CAN NOT RULE OUT ISOLD TORNADOES. WE HAVE SEEN COLD SEASON SETUPS LIKE THIS BEFORE (SEPT 20, 2002 BEING ONE) WITH LOTS OF SHEAR AND LITTLE TO NO INSTABILITY AND YET RECEIVED TORNADOES. AWIPS DISTANCE SPEED TOOL SUGGESTS SQUALL LINE WL REACH WRN PARTS OF THE FA BY 00Z THIS EVE AND SPREAD QUICKLY NE UNDER THE SAIL OF 70+ KT DEEP LYR SW WINDS. 40KT WINDS JUST OFF THE SFC SHOULD BE ABLE TO MIX DOWN TNGT ESPECIALLY ALONG AND BEHIND THE FNT AS AREA OF SUBSIDENCE MOVES THROUGH JUST AHEAD OF THE STG UPR TROF THAT WL PASS THROUGH TOMORROW MRNG. TOOK OUT SNOW CHANCES ON THE TAIL END OF THE SYS TNGT AS MODEL SOUNDINGS AND MOS OVERNGT LOWS SUGGEST. SFC HIGH PRES WL BUILD IN FM THE W ON SUNDAY AND BE THE MAJOR INFLUENCE FOR THE START OF THE WEEK. THAT COMBINED WITH A DRY COLUMN WL ALLOW FOR LITTLE IN THE WAY OF CLOUD COVER. IT WL ALSO ALLOW FOR TEMPS SLIGHTLY ABV NORMAL WITH STG CAA TNGT BECOMING WEAK ON SUNDAY AND WEAK WAA BY SUNDAY NGT. UPR TROF TO PASS ACRS THE GT LKS ON TUE NGT AND WED...BUT WITH LOW MN LVL RH...EXPECT FA TO BE DRY OR AT BEST JUST A COUPLE OF LGT SNOW SHOWERS NE. NEXT CHC OF PRECIP LOOKS TO BE BY THU NGT AS A TROF DEEPENS ACRS THE MSP VLY. TIMING AND ESP THE PLACEMENT OF THE UPR SYS AND ASSOCIATED SFC SYS ARE QUITE DIFFERENT FOR THE GFS AND ECMWF...BUT AT ANY RATE SNOW CHANCES LOOK GOOD THU NGT AND FRI. WENT WITH COMPROMISE ON COOLER NAM AND NOT AS COOL GFS TNGT AS PARENT MODELS DIFFER A BIT WITH THE SPEED OF THE CD FNT AND EITHER SIDE HAS SUPPORT FM OTHER MODELS. TEMPS TNGT BASED ON CURRENT POST FRONTAL TEMPS. MEANWHILE...WITH PLNTY OF SS AND CAA WEAKENING TOMORROW AFTERNOON...PREFER WARMER NAM/GFS COMBO. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WIND ADVISORY ALL OF CENTRAL INDIANA THRU 12Z SUN /7AM SUN/. && AVIATION...CP/DT PUBLIC...MK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 320 PM EST SAT DEC 27 2008 INZ041-042-049-057-064-065-071-072-281100- DELAWARE-RANDOLPH-HENRY-RUSH-BARTHOLOMEW-DECATUR-JACKSON-JENNINGS- 320 PM EST SAT DEC 27 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. WINDS WILL INCREASE INTO THE 20 TO 30 MPH RANGE THIS AFTERNOON AND PERSIST THROUGH THE NIGHT. WIND GUSTS OF 40 TO 45 MPH ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY THIS EVENING AS A STRONG COLD FRONT APPROACHES. THE STORMS WILL PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS POSSIBLY TO 50 MPH. DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS ALSO POSSIBLE. STORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL...WHICH MAY LEAD TO ADDITIONAL LOWLAND FLOODING. LOWLAND FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG PORTIONS OF THE WHITE...EAST FORK WHITE...AND WABASH RIVERS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. LOWLAND FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG PORTIONS OF THE EAST FORK WHITE... AND WABASH RIVERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER REPORTS OF WIND GUSTS TODAY AND TONIGHT ARE APPRECIATED. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE) INZ021-028>031-035>040-043>048-051>056-060>063-067>070-281100- CARROLL-WARREN-TIPPECANOE-CLINTON-HOWARD-FOUNTAIN-MONTGOMERY- BOONE-TIPTON-HAMILTON-MADISON-VERMILLION-PARKE-PUTNAM-HENDRICKS- MARION-HANCOCK-VIGO-CLAY-OWEN-MORGAN-JOHNSON-SHELBY-SULLIVAN- GREENE-MONROE-BROWN-KNOX-DAVIESS-MARTIN-LAWRENCE- 320 PM EST SAT DEC 27 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY THIS EVENING AS A STRONG COLD FRONT APPROACHES. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES POSSIBLE. DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS ALSO POSSIBLE. STORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL...WHICH MAY LEAD TO ADDITIONAL LOWLAND FLOODING. LOWLAND FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG PORTIONS OF THE WHITE...EAST FORK WHITE...AND WABASH RIVERS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. LOWLAND FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG PORTIONS OF THE EAST FORK WHITE... AND WABASH RIVERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER REPORTS OF WIND GUSTS TODAY AND TONIGHT ARE APPRECIATED. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE) KOCH
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 105 AM EST SUN DEC 28 2008 INZ021-029>031-036>042-045>049-052>057-061>065-068>072-280800- CARROLL-TIPPECANOE-CLINTON-HOWARD-MONTGOMERY-BOONE-TIPTON- HAMILTON-MADISON-DELAWARE-RANDOLPH-PUTNAM-HENDRICKS-MARION- HANCOCK-HENRY-CLAY-OWEN-MORGAN-JOHNSON-SHELBY-RUSH-GREENE-MONROE- BROWN-BARTHOLOMEW-DECATUR-DAVIESS-MARTIN-LAWRENCE-JACKSON- JENNINGS- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LAFAYETTE...FRANKFORT...KOKOMO... CRAWFORDSVILLE...ANDERSON...MUNCIE...INDIANAPOLIS...SHELBYVILLE... BLOOMINGTON...COLUMBUS...BEDFORD...SEYMOUR 105 AM EST SUN DEC 28 2008 ...GUSTY WINDS MOVING INTO CENTRAL INDIANA... A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP EAST ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA EARLY THIS MORNING. AS IT PASSES...WIND GUSTS OF 40 MPH TO 55 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED. THE FRONT SHOULD PASS THE KOKOMO...INDIANAPOLIS...AND BLOOMINGTON AREAS BY 200 AM. THE FRONT SHOULD MOVE ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF CENTRAL INDIANA BY 300 AM.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong winds accompanying a cold front blew down 2 trees and removed a portion of a garage roof. Damage estimate is rough.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, December 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 148619.