A cold front pushing south through central Indiana produced scattered thunderstorms that affected portions of the area with large hail, wind damage, and even flooding during the afternoon hours of July the 8th.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 pushing south through central Indiana produced scattered thunderstorms that affected portions of the area with large hail, wind damage, and even flooding during the afternoon hours of July the 8th.
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 Jul 8, 12:25 PM EST, 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 125 PM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 .UPDATE... THE NEAR TERM SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED BELOW && .SYNOPSIS... ISSUED AT 331 AM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 THE HEAT WAVE HAS ENDED ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA AS A COLD FRONT CURRENTLY MOVES ACROSS THE AREA. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL ACCOMPANY THE FRONT...AND COOLER MORE SEASONABLE TEMPS WILL FOLLOW IN ITS WAKE AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS BACK INTO CENTRAL INDIANA. && .NEAR TERM /THIS AFTERNOON/... ISSUED AT 119 PM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 ADJUSTED NORTHERN COUNTY TEMPS DOWN JUST A BIT NEAR AND BEHIND NORTHERN LINE OF STORMS WHILE EVERYWHERE SOUTH OF THERE HAVE BUMPED MAXS TO MID 90S MOST AREAS. HAVE ALSO RE-WORDED FORECAST FOR SCATTERED STORM WORDING. && .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... ISSUED AT 331 AM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE SHORT TERM IS LINGERING SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COLD FRONT. CARRIED CHANCE POPS ACROSS THE VERY SOUTHERNMOST PORTIONS OF FORECAST AREA TONIGHT AS FRONT BRIEFLY STALLS OVER SOUTHERN INDIANA. HOWEVER...CONFIDENCE IS NOT HIGH...AND THESE MAY HAVE TO BE REMOVED IF THERE ISN/T MORE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE COURSE OF TODAY. SHOWERS AND STORMS ARE STRUGGLING TO DEVELOP WITH THE LACK OF FORCING...AND MOISTURE WILL ALSO BECOME LIMITED IN THE MID-LEVELS AFTER MON 00Z. THE REMAINDER OF THE SHORT TERM PERIOD WILL BE DRY STARTING TOMORROW AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS BACK INTO THE AREA. DESPITE AMPLE SUNSHINE...THE NORTHEASTERLY FLOW WILL KEEP TEMPS CLOSER TO NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR WITH READINGS IN THE UPPER 80S...AND OVERNIGHT LOWS IN THE 60S. THE GFS IS ONCE AGAIN TRENDING A TAD COOLER THAN THE NAM...BUT NOT ENOUGH TO COMPLETELY RULE IT OUT. SO...WENT WITH A MODEL BLEND. HOWEVER...DID TREND A LITTLE ON THE WARMER SIDE OF GUIDANCE FOR TONIGHT DUE TO LINGERING CLOUD COVER. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... ISSUED AT 331 AM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 THE EXTENDED PERIOD WILL BE DRY FOR THE MAJORITY...WITH A CONTINUATION OF MORE CLIMO NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THIS MEANS HIGHS IN THE 80S DURING THE AFTERNOON AND LOWS IN THE 60S. MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THIS PERIOD AND BELIEVE ALLBLEND REFLECTS THIS WELL. KEPT FORECAST DRY UNTIL NEXT WEEKEND...EVEN THOUGH SOME OF THE GUIDANCE INDICATES SOME SMALL CHANCES FOR RAIN. MODELS TEND TO INTRODUCE PRECIPITATION TOO FAST IN A DROUGHT. NEXT FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA NEXT SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. INCLUDED SOME CHANCE POPS FOR NEXT WEEKEND. && .AVIATION /DISCUSSION FOR THE 18Z TAFS/... ISSUED AT 102 PM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED FOR THE MOST OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. RADAR EARLY THIS AFTERNOON SHOWS TWO FRONTAL BOUNDARIES ACROSS THE AREA...ONE AREA IS TO THE SOUTH OF CENTRAL INDIANA...NEAR BMG...WHERE STORMS ARE FIRING ON DAYTIME HEATING. A SECOND FRONT FARTHER NORTH NEAR KOKOMO...LAF AND CNI. STORMS WERE FIRING HERE ALSO. AS THESE TWO BOUNDARIES REMAIN IN THE AREA DURING THE NEXT 6 HOURS WILL USE VCTS TO HANDLE SHOWERS AND STORMS. CONFIDENCE REMAINS LOW WITH DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF THE SCATTERED CONVECTION. THUS WILL USE FREQUENT UPDATES THIS AFTERNOON FOR PRECISE TSRA TIMING. WITH THE LOSS OF HEATING THIS EVENING VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO RETURN. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...TDUD NEAR TERM...TUCEK SHORT TERM...TDUD LONG TERM....SMF AVIATION...JP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 511 AM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-090915- CARROLL-WARREN-TIPPECANOE-CLINTON-HOWARD-FOUNTAIN-MONTGOMERY- BOONE-TIPTON-HAMILTON-MADISON-DELAWARE-RANDOLPH-VERMILLION-PARKE- PUTNAM-HENDRICKS-MARION-HANCOCK-HENRY-VIGO-CLAY-OWEN-MORGAN- JOHNSON-SHELBY-RUSH-SULLIVAN-GREENE-MONROE-BROWN-BARTHOLOMEW- DECATUR-KNOX-DAVIESS-MARTIN-LAWRENCE-JACKSON-JENNINGS- 511 AM EDT SUN JUL 8 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. OUTLOOK: ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE. HAZARDS: THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. TIMING: THIS MORNING THROUGH THIS EVENING...AND ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF FORECAST AREA TONIGHT. DISCUSSION: A COLD FRONT WILL STALL ACROSS SOUTHERN INDIANA...PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. OUTLOOK: SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES WILL RETURN. DISCUSSION: HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD BACK INTO THE AREA ON MONDAY AND PERSIST THROUGH THE WEEK. THE NEXT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ON SATURDAY WHEN THE NEXT FRONT MOVES INTO CENTRAL INDIANA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT THUNDERSTORM RELATED HAZARDS. && MORE INFORMATION...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND...AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/IND (ALL LOWERCASE)
The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:39 UTC.
6 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Golf ball sized hail was observed on State Road 37 near the Monroe/Lawrence county line.
An 18-inch diameter, healthy tree was downed along the side of State Route 37 due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Trees and power lines were downed in this location due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
A 60 mph estimated damaging wind gust was observed in this location.
Six to eight inch diameter tree limbs were downed in this location due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
A 12 to 14 inch diameter tree was uprooted on Lake Road due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Flooding, due to heavy rainfall, occurred across a road near State Route 46 and Country Club Road just northwest of Bloomington. The depth of the water was about 2 inches.
An estimated 60 mph damaging wind gust was observed near the intersection of Highway 37 and Rockport Road.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, July 2012
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: 405602, 405739, 405737, 405603, 405744, 405604, 405748, 405926, 405623.