A winter storm occurred across central Indiana that brought with it a mixture of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow. Upwards of a half inch of ice accumulated in some locations across central Indiana and in others over six inches of snow fell.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 winter storm occurred across central Indiana that brought with it a mixture of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow. Upwards of a half inch of ice accumulated in some locations across central Indiana and in others over six inches of snow fell.
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 Mar 4, 12:16 AM EST, 10 hours 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 1216 AM EST MON MAR 4 2008 .AVIATION...DISCUSSION FOR 6Z TAFS. -FZRA SHOULD CONT AT KHUF FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS...AND SHOULD BEGIN AT KIND SHORTLY. TEMPS WL BE BORDERLINE FOR FZRA FOR THESE SITES MUCH OF THE PD AND HAVE TRIED TO TIME THE MVMENT OF THE COLD AIR. KLAF WILL STAY DRY MUCH OF THE PD TIL SOME WRAPAROUND SNOW DEVELOPS IN THE AFTERNOON. KBMG SHUD STAY RAIN MUCH OF THE TIME WITH TEMPS ABOVE FREEZING...BUT WL SEE A CHANGEOVER TO SNOW IN LATE AFTERNOON. CIGS WL BE IFR MUCH OF THE PD WITH KLAF HAVING THE BEST CHANCE AT IMPROVING TO MVFR DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS. VSBYS SHUD BE MVFR. WINDS SHUD STRENGTHEN IN THE MORNING AS PRES GRADIENT INCREASES AND COULD SEE GUSTS TO 30 KTS. && .PREV DISCUSSION...MAIN FOCUS IS ON STRONG WEATHER SYSTEM TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. COLD FRONT WAS NEAR A KFWA-KIND TO EFFINGHAM LINE AT 20Z. MODELS HAVE A PRETTY GOOD HANDLE IN THE SHORT TERM SO WILL USE BLEND. AS FAR AS THE FLOOD WATCH IS CONCERNED...PRECIPITATION MAY BE NO MORE THAN LIGHT TO MODERATE IN OUR NORTHWEST SO WILL END FLOOD WATCH THERE. ALSO TEMPERATURES THERE WILL BE DROPPING BELOW FREEZING LATER TONIGHT AND MODEL QPF IN OUR NORTHWEST IS LITTLE MORE THAN A HALF INCH. OTHER BIG CONCERN IS CHANGE OVER TO FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET OVERNIGHT AND TUESDAY AS COLDER AIR MOVES IN. BOTH GFS/NAM SURFACE TEMPERATURES BARELY REACH FREEZING NEAR I70 BY 12Z SO THIS SHOULD BE SOUTHERN EXTENT OF FREEZING RAIN. SINCE NEAR I70 WILL BE NEAR OR POSSIBLY BELOW FREEZING...FREEZING RAIN SHOULD NOT BE AS BAD AS FARTHER NORTH SO WILL ISSUE ADVISORY THESE AREAS. IN OUR VERY FAR NORTHWEST...SLEET AND LOWER QPF SHOULD LIMIT ICING THERE. OUR NORTH CENTRAL ZONES SHOULD HAVE LOW ENOUGH TEMPERATURES PLUS MORE LIQUID PRECIP AND QPF SO THIS IS THE AREA MOST LIKELY TO EXCEED ONE QUARTER INCH ICE ACCUMULATION. AS LOW PASSES BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON 1000-700 MB THICKNESS FALL LOW ENOUGH FOR PRECIP TO BECOME MOSTLY SNOW OVER MOST AREAS EXECEPT FOR OUR FAR EAST AND SOUTHEAST BY LATE TUESDAY. AT PRESENT TIME LOOK FOR UP TO 2-3 INCHES OF SNOW IN OUR FAR NORTHWEST AND MAYBE AN INCH AS FAR EAST AS INDY BY TUESDAY EVENING. HAVE GONE A LITTLE COLDER THAN HPC IN SOME OF THE EXTENDED PERIODS BASED ON THE GFS AND EURO MODELS. OTHERWISE ONLY MINOR CHANGES MADE. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON FOR INZ039>042-045>049- 051>057-060>065-067>072. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 5 AM TO 4 PM EST TUESDAY FOR INZ037- 039-042-045>049-051-052. WINTER STORM WARNING FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 4 PM EST TUESDAY FOR INZ021-029>031-038-040-041. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 4 PM EST TUESDAY FOR INZ028-035-036-043-044. && AVIATION...CP PUBLIC...JH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 549 AM EST TUE MAR 4 2008 INZ021-028>031-035>049-051-052-051100- CARROLL-WARREN-TIPPECANOE-CLINTON-HOWARD-FOUNTAIN-MONTGOMERY- BOONE-TIPTON-HAMILTON-MADISON-DELAWARE-RANDOLPH-VERMILLION-PARKE- PUTNAM-HENDRICKS-MARION-HANCOCK-HENRY-VIGO-CLAY- 549 AM EST TUE MAR 4 2008 ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EST... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. A MIX OF FREEZING RAIN...SLEET...AND SNOW IS EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT. SNOWFALL TOTALS OF ONE TO THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE IN THE LAFAYETTE AREA...OTHERWISE AROUND AN INCH OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE. LIGHT ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE ALSO EXPECTED...MAINLY ON ELEVATED SURFACES SUCH AS TREES AND POWER LINES. FLOODING IS POSSIBLE ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS THROUGH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. FLOODING MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE MAJOR RIVERS LATER IN THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE) INZ053>057-060>065-067>072-051100- OWEN-MORGAN-JOHNSON-SHELBY-RUSH-SULLIVAN-GREENE-MONROE-BROWN- BARTHOLOMEW-DECATUR-KNOX-DAVIESS-MARTIN-LAWRENCE-JACKSON-JENNINGS- 549 AM EST TUE MAR 4 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. FLOODING IS EXPECTED ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS THROUGH TONIGHT. A LIGHT MIX OF FREEZING RAIN...SLEET...AND SNOW MAY DEVELOP THIS EVENING. MINOR ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOWFALL ARE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. FLOODING MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE MAJOR RIVERS LATER IN THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE)
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
A half inch of ice and a half inch of sleet accumulated in the Farmland area. Wind and ice accumulation on power lines caused thousands of outages. Small trees and large limbs are broken and down.
A National Weather Service employee reports seeing transformers blowing near 96th street in Hamilton County. Power outages were reported in numerous locations throughout the county.
The public measured six inches of snow five miles north northeast of Camden in Carroll County.
Ice accumulated 0.3 to 0.4 inches on trees and power lines. The power was flickering in the Brownsburg area. In addition to the ice accumulation, 0.75 inches of snow accumulated as well.
The public measured six inches of snow in Attica.
A National Weather Service employee indicated that ice had accumulated on trees and power lines. The ice accumulation had caused power outages on the west side of Indianapolis.
Over 30 trees fell in Greenfield due to ice accumulation. A tree also fell onto a pickup truck due to the ice and power lines were reported down throughout the area.
Large tree limbs were down in the New Castle area, including one that fell on top of a car, causing heavy damage to the vehicle. Power outages were reported in various parts of Henry County with broken electrical poles, downed lines, and blown transformers.
A quarter of an inch of ice accumulated in Delaware County, including near Muncie. Trees were reported down due to the ice accumulation.
A road emergency was declared for Madison County due to ice accumulation in the county. Wind and ice on power lines caused thousands of power outages. A man was taken to the hospital after his car struck a tree limb that had fallen across a road and power lines.
Six inches of snow was measured in Warren County by the public.
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, March 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: 86921, 86922, 86923, 86924, 86925, 86926, 86927, 86928, 86930, 86933, 86936.