Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Indiana, January 28 to 29, 2019

Name: Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Indiana, January 28 to 29, 2019
Start: 2019-01-28T05:00
End: 2019-01-29T05:00
Location: Indiana

January 28 to 29, 2019 · NWS IWX · 12 events in 12 counties and zones

A strong Alberta Clipper brought heavy snow and gusty winds to Lower Michigan January 28th into early January 29th. Snow accumulations generally ranged between 3 and 8 inches.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 9 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 2
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 12

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS IWX wrote it up.

A strong Alberta Clipper brought heavy snow and gusty winds to Lower Michigan January 28th into early January 29th. Snow accumulations generally ranged between 3 and 8 inches.

What forecasters said that day

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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 28, 12:20 AM EST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 28, 12:20 AM EST, 4 hours 40 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 27, 5:16 PM EST, 11 hours 44 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

10 winter weather, 2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, St. Joseph

When: January 28, 5:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: St. Joseph forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 5 and 8 inches. South Bend received 6.7 of snow. Gusty winds to near 30 mph led to considerable blowing and drifting snow which resulted in limited visibility and difficult travel. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Storm, La Porte

When: January 28, 5:00 AM CST to January 29, 5:00 AM CST
Where: La Porte forecast zone
Reported by: Public

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 5 and 8 inches. La Porte received 6.5 inches of snow. Gusty winds to near 30 mph led to considerable blowing and drifting snow which resulted in limited visibility and difficult travel. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Elkhart

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Elkhart forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 41.597, -85.859 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Lagrange

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Lagrange forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 41.643, -85.426 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Steuben

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Steuben forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 41.644, -85.001 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, De Kalb

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: De Kalb forecast zone
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 41.398, -84.999 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Kosciusko

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Kosciusko forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Marshall

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Marshall forecast zone
Reported by: CoCoRaHS
Coordinates: 41.325, -86.262 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Starke

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Starke forecast zone
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 41.281, -86.648 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 4 and 6 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Pulaski

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Pulaski forecast zone
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 41.042, -86.699 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Fulton

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Fulton forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 41.047, -86.264 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region.

Winter Weather, Noble

When: January 28, 6:00 AM EST to January 29, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Noble forecast zone
Deaths: 0 direct, 2 indirect
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 41.399, -85.417 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow overspread around daybreak on January 28th and continued through early January 29th. Some freezing drizzle did mix in during the late afternoon and evening hours. Total snow accumulations across the county ranged between 3 and 5 inches. This in tandem with 30 mph wind gusts created difficult travel conditions. There were numerous school delays and cancellations, along with reports of accidents and slide-offs across the region. An accident between a police officer and a SUV resulted in 2 fatalities (the police officer and his wife) Monday night.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Winter Weather, Noble	2019-01-28	22	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Indirect
Winter Weather, Noble	2019-01-28	21	Female	Outside/Open Areas	Indirect

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Indiana in 2019 Every state in 2019 This day in weather history Warnings in Indiana, January 2019

Sources

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: 794993, 794992, 794994, 794996, 794997, 794998, 794999, 795000, 795001, 795002, 795003, 795005.