During the afternoon and evening hours, isolated to scattered thunderstorms moved through central Indiana causing widespread tree damage to portions of Carroll county. More isolated damage occurred across other portions of central Indiana.
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.
During the afternoon and evening hours, isolated to scattered thunderstorms moved through central Indiana causing widespread tree damage to portions of Carroll county. More isolated damage occurred across other portions of central Indiana. Storms remained nearly stationary in west central Indiana where over 4 inches of rain fell. Flash flooding occurred in Sullivan county which led to US 41 to remain closed for several hours.
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 19, 11:44 AM EST, 46 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 1244 PM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 .UPDATE... The AVIATION Section has been updated below. && .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 334 AM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 Hot and humid conditions will continue for much of the week across central Indiana. A front will meander north and south across the area through the week, keeping chances for showers and thunderstorms in the forecast. && .NEAR TERM /Today/... Issued at 946 AM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 Some lingering precipitation is moving through northern and western portions of central Indiana this morning. The boundary layer across most of the region is fairly stable, and should inhibit precipitation devlopment as these progress eastward. Ongoing convection over northeast Illinois may clip northern portions of central Indiana later this morning and into the early afternoon. Otherwise, expectations are for the bulk of convective weather to be later in the afternoon and evening as the atmosphere destabilizes and the cold front approaches. Temperature expectations have dropped slightly given the increase in cloud cover. However heat indices are still expected to exceed 100 this afternoon. Previous discussion as follows. Early this morning, clouds had developed across western sections of the area, with some sprinkles and light showers across central Illinois. A cold front was back across Wisconsin and Iowa. The weak lift producing the light showers or sprinkles across central Illinois will move into the area this morning. Will include some sprinkles across northwest areas in the pre-first period part of the forecast. Speaking of confidence, it is not great on specifics of convective development today. Convection allowing models all have differing solutions of timing and extent of convection. Some try to bring remnants of the convection across Wisconsin into the area this morning, but these aren't doing well at the moment with current convection. Others differ on how upper energy will interact with the front to produce areas of convection. Will have some low PoPs in the mid to late morning to account for uncertainty, but feel better chances for convection will be this afternoon as the cold front actually arrives. Best upper support will be northeast of the area, so will keep PoPs in the chance category or lower, and have the highest PoPs in the northeast. Depending on how the mid level cloud mixes out this morning and how the cumulus field develops this afternoon, potential exists for CAPE values of well over 3000. With this instability, the Slight Risk for severe weather looks good across the area this afternoon. Temperatures are only in the mid 70s to around 80 at the moment, so highs in the 90s look good. Exactly how high readings get will depend on the aforementioned cloud cover. Dewpoints will be high, so the Heat Advisory still looks good, even if cloud cover makes highs a bit cooler. && .SHORT TERM (Tonight through Tuesday night)... Issued at 334 AM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 Models are close enough that the National Blend of Models initialization was accepted for most items. The cold front will slide south tonight and hang up not too far south of the area. Will have chance PoPs this evening, diminishing overnight from north to south. As the front drifts back north on Monday, will have some low PoPs across the south half of the area. Monday night and beyond, an upper trough will move east and interact with the front, bringing it farther north. Moisture will still be plentiful. There are some timing differences when the best forcing will arrive, so will just stick with the initialization for now. This puts likely PoPs most areas on Tuesday, with lower PoPs for other periods. Humid conditions will continue, but temperatures won't be as high with the front and associated clouds and potential rainfall. && .LONG TERM /Wednesday through Sunday/... Issued at 308 AM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 Hot and humid conditions will continue into the long term period, although temperatures will be slightly milder early in the period than later as heights build gradually. NBM initialization, as has been a theme this warm season, once again has precip chances every period through the long term. This looks to be overdone, particularly from Thursday night onward, and removed pops or capped them at lower values where able based on model trends. Higher chances will be early in the long term with a front in the region. Any convection late in the period will likely be far more diurnal in nature. Bumped up max temps, especially late, to account for overdone precip impacts on the highs. && .AVIATION /Discussion for 191800z TAF issuance/... Issued at 1232 PM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 A line of thunderstorms currently moving east across eastern Illinois should stay north of all sites but KLAF, which could get clipped by the southern edge of the line early in the TAF period. Will include a tempo thunder group there. Elsewhere, more convective development is expected later this afternoon/evening along and ahead of a cold frontal boundary that will be moving into central Indiana and then stalling to the south of the sites. Low confidence in the timing/coverage of this convection as high resolution models are showing a lot of variety in solutions. Ultimately, think outside of any storms should see little impact to flight category, with the exception of a few hours of possible postfrontal MVFR ceilings. Will run with a VCTS for much of the afternoon/evening and leave out more explicit thunder mention due to low confidence. Winds out of the southwest around 10 to 15 kts with gusts to around 20 to 25 kts should continue through sunset, at which point they should decrease. Also look for a direction change to westerly/northwesterly moving through after 0z with the frontal passage, then becoming light and variable late overnight and lasting through Monday. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Heat Advisory until 8 PM EDT this evening for INZ021-028>031- 035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072. && SYNOPSIS...50 NEAR TERM...Updike/50 SHORT TERM...50 LONG TERM...Nield AVIATION...CP
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 501 AM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-200915- 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 501 AM EDT Sun Jul 19 2020 This hazardous weather outlook is for central Indiana. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Outlook: Hot and humid today. Thunderstorms are possible, and some could be severe. Hazards: Heat indices up to around 105 could lead to heat illnesses. Damaging winds, hail, heavy rain, and lightning in thunderstorms. Timing: Heat and severe thunderstorms this afternoon into early evening. Other thunderstorms are then possible into the overnight. Discussion: A cold front will move into the area, bringing chances for thunderstorms. Hot and humid conditions will continue today ahead of the front. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday. Outlook: Hot and humid conditions can be expected along with chances for thunderstorms. Isolated severe thunderstorms are possible Tuesday. Discussion: Hot and humid air will remain across central Indiana into next week. A front remaining in the area will keep chances for thunderstorms around. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is possible this afternoon. .STORM MOTION STATEMENT... The expected storm motion this afternoon is from the west at around 30 MPH. && More information, along with other weather, hydrological and climate information can be found at http://weather.gov/ind
The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:31 UTC.
13 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees of unknown size downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Trees downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Trees downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Trees downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Power lines and power poles downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Tree limbs of unknown size were downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts. To the northeast, a tree was downed.
Tree of unknown size uprooted due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Several tree branches of unknown size downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts. One fell and damaged a car.
Tree of unknown size downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Twelve apartments were damaged due to a fire that was caused by a lightning strike. Heavy fire damage caused portions of the roof to collapse onto the ceiling above the second floor apartment units. A number of off-duty firefighters were called in to assist to put out the fire.
Several power lines and large trees downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts in Bowling Green. Additional damage was reported in surrounding areas with 2 trees downed on vehicles.
A 100 foot Hickory Tree was snapped at the base due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
Two trees downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts on Godsey Road.
Multiple medium to large trees onto a nearby road downed due to thunderstorm wind gusts.
US 41 was closed between County Road 400S and 600S due to water flowing over the roads. Road was closed for several hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, July 2020
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: 895681, 895682, 895684, 895685, 895687, 895690, 895694, 895692, 895696, 895698, 895700, 895702, 895703, 895704, 895706.