Instability and shear developed in between an area of rain and an approaching cold front. This allowed a line of strong to severe thunderstorms to developed ahead of the cold front during the afternoon of May 19th and move across central Indiana.
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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.
Instability and shear developed in between an area of rain and an approaching cold front. This allowed a line of strong to severe thunderstorms to developed ahead of the cold front during the afternoon of May 19th and move across central Indiana. The storms brought damaging winds, which downed trees and power lines. A pole barn was damaged in Shelby County.
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 May 19, 2:32 PM EST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 332 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019 .UPDATE... The LONG TERM Section has been updated below. && .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 310 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019 A cold front will move through central Indiana tonight. Thunderstorms are possible along and ahead of the front. Much cooler weather moves in for the start of the work week. A front will meander across the area mid to late week, bringing chances for rain at times mid-week into next weekend. Temperatures will rebound to above normal mid-week and then remain there. && .NEAR TERM...(Rest of This Afternoon and Tonight) Issued at 310 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019 Early this afternoon a dry slot was moving into central Indiana, ending the widespread rainfall. However, a line of storms had developed in central Illinois ahead of a cold front. The line of storms will move across central Indiana during the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening hours before 00Z. Will handle with a pre-first period in the text products to cover this. Severe storms remain possible with building instability and some decent shear, but at the moment am not expecting widespread severe weather. HRRR and some other models indicate still some shower or thunderstorm potential with the front itself as it moves across the area after 00Z. Will have some low PoPs this evening. Colder air will move in overnight, and some stratocumulus will accompany it. Will keep skies partly cloudy. The model blend looks reasonable for temperatures. && .SHORT TERM...(Monday through Wednesday) Issued at 310 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019 Models are close enough that the model blend initialization was accepted for most items. The colder air and stratocumulus will stick around on Monday, keeping skies partly cloudy and high temperatures only in the 60s most areas. Dry and cool conditions will continue into Tuesday with some upper ridging briefly working into the area. A large upper system across the western part of the country will send some energy just to the northwest of the area Tuesday night into Wednesday. This will also bring a warm front through the area. Forcing isn't that impressive with the strongest forcing remaining out of central Indiana. Will go with mainly chance category PoPs. The warm front will allow temperatures to return into the 80s for highs on Wednesday. && .LONG TERM /Wednesday night through Thursday/... Issued at 312 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019 Accepted the initialization. An upper level high will sit over the deep south for much of long term range. Models are showing a couple of short waves that may affect the area during that time so there are a couple chances for rain. The best chance looks to be Memorial Day weekend as models are in agreement that there will be precipitation but exact timing and location are still to be seen. Temperatures will be above normal as highs are anticipated to be in the 80s. && .AVIATION (Discussion for the 191800Z TAF Issuance)... Issued at 110 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019 Generally VFR conditions expected through the period, with some MVFR or worse conditions mainly in convection this afternoon into early evening. Gusty winds will continue this afternoon. Main area of rain will continue to move out of the sites early in the period. Scattered convection will then move in ahead of an approaching cold front. There are some patches of MVFR clouds across Illinois that will move into the area and may cause brief periods of MVFR ceilings even outside of convection this afternoon. Overnight will be dry with a stratocumulus deck moving in from the north. For now kept this VFR but MVFR not out of the question. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...50 NEAR TERM...50 SHORT TERM...50 LONG TERM....KH AVIATION...50
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 414 AM EDT Sun May 19 2019 INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-201000- 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- Including the cities of Delphi, Flora, Williamsport, West Lebanon, Lafayette, West Lafayette, Frankfort, Kokomo, Attica, Covington, Veedersburg, Crawfordsville, Lebanon, Zionsville, Tipton, Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Anderson, Muncie, Winchester, Clinton, Newport, Rockville, Greencastle, Plainfield, Brownsburg, Danville, Indianapolis, Greenfield, Cumberland, New Castle, Terre Haute, Brazil, Clay City, Spencer, Martinsville, Mooresville, Greenwood, Franklin, Shelbyville, Rushville, Sullivan, Linton, Bloomfield, Bloomington, Nashville, Columbus, Greensburg, Vincennes, Washington, Loogootee, Shoals, Bedford, Mitchell, Seymour, Brownstown, and North Vernon 414 AM EDT Sun May 19 2019 This hazardous weather outlook is for central Indiana. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Outlook: Showers and thunderstorms. Severe storms possible this afternoon and evening. Windy conditions. Hazards: Damaging winds...large hail...heavy rain and lightning. A few tornadoes possible as well. Non-thunderstorm wind gusts to near 40 mph at times. Timing: Storms possible through this evening. The best threat for severe weather from 2 pm through 9 pm. Gusty winds outside of storms through early evening. Discussion: Showers and thunderstorms are expected today ahead of a cold front. Severe storms are possible this afternoon and evening. Dry and cooler weather is expected overnight. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday. Outlook: Thunderstorms will be possible at times late Tuesday into next weekend. Some of the storms could be strong. Discussion: After a dry and cooler start to the week...additional chances for rain and thunderstorms will come for the second half of the upcoming week as strong low pressure tracks from the central Plains into the upper Midwest with a frontal boundary lingering across the Ohio Valley. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be needed this afternoon and evening. && More information, along with other weather, hydrological and climate information can be found at http://weather.gov/ind Ryan
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Indianapolis IN
336 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019
INZ028-029-035-043-192015-
Fountain IN-Warren IN-Vermillion IN-Tippecanoe IN-
336 PM EDT Sun May 19 2019
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR FOUNTAIN...WEST CENTRAL
TIPPECANOE...WARREN AND NORTHERN VERMILLION COUNTIES UNTIL 415 PM
EDT...
At 335 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along
a line extending from 7 miles east of Rossville to Allerton. Movement
was southeast at 25 mph.
Half inch hail and wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph will be possible with
these storms.
Locations impacted include...
Covington, Veedersburg, Williamsport, Newport, Attica, Cayuga, West
Lebanon, Dana, Perrysville, Newtown, Pine Village, State Line City,
Pence, Foster, Tab, Gessie, Rainsville and Lodi.
LAT...LON 4048 8753 4048 8693 3995 8735 3995 8742
3993 8743 3993 8741 3991 8739 3973 8753
TIME...MOT...LOC 1935Z 295DEG 22KT 4040 8753 3994 8792
AW/50The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:41 UTC.
14 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A gazebo was destroyed due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 50 to 60 mph were observed in this location.
An estimated 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust was observed in this location. This event was relayed via broadcast media.
A large 12-inch diameter, live tree limb was downed due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Multiple large, healthy tree limbs were downed across County Road 500 South due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Power poles were downed near County Road 600 North, west of Forest, due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Healthy 6 to 8 inch diameter tree limbs were downed due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
Power lines were down and blocking the road due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
A 16 inch, partially dead tree was blown down due to strong thunderstorm wind gusts. A wind gust at the time was measured at 48 mph.
An estimated 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust was observed in this location.
A large tree branch was snapped due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
An estimated 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust was observed in this location. Numerous large tree limbs were downed and power outages were noted.
There were reports of several 6 to 10 inch tree limbs snapped on the east side of Fortville due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
There was damage to the roof of a pole barn due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, May 2019
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: 832344, 832091, 832092, 832348, 832350, 832351, 832353, 832354, 832356, 832094, 832357, 832095, 832359, 832360.