From the morning hours of Wednesday February 2nd through the morning hours on Friday February 4th, a strong winter storm moved through central Indiana while arctic high pressure simultaneously built into the region from northwest to southeast. The advancement of cold air changed what was initially appreciable rain, to all snow, with a prolonged period of freezing rain to sleet during this slow…
Every event with a place to put it; 39 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.
From the morning hours of Wednesday February 2nd through the morning hours on Friday February 4th, a strong winter storm moved through central Indiana while arctic high pressure simultaneously built into the region from northwest to southeast. The advancement of cold air changed what was initially appreciable rain, to all snow, with a prolonged period of freezing rain to sleet during this slow transition across many of the region's southern counties.
Snow began across the upper Wabash Valley on the morning of February 2nd with the heaviest snow for most of central Indiana's northern counties occurring during the 2nd's daytime. The transitional zone then advanced to a line from roughly Terre Haute to Muncie by late day on the 2nd, before significantly slowing its progress to the southeast. The night of February 2nd saw a lull in accumulating precipitation for several hours over most of the region.
Heavy snow then impacted the Interstate 70 corridor and points south on February 3rd from pre-dawn through the overnight hours, although mixed precipitation types continued for central Indiana's far southern and far southeastern counties through the February 3rd daytime. Additional light accumulating snow fell through the morning hours of February 4th south of Interstate 70. The 48-hour period included Indiana State Police responding to 109 crashes, 110 slide-offs, and 284 motorist assists across the Indianapolis district (Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion and Shelby Counties). Significant travel impacts were noted throughout the storm, with at least 22 of 39 central Indiana counties placed under a Travel Warning - the most severe travel category.
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 Feb 1, 11:45 PM EST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 1145 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 ...Updated Aviation Discussion... .Forecast Update... Issued at 944 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 Made some minor tweaks to PoPs, otherwise, radar was showing bulk of the rain was lifting northeast across the Wabash Valley. Still, expect the rain to spread southeast through the night. Temperatures were on track and still in the middle 40s over northern sections and upper 40s and lower 50s elsewhere. The HRRR BUFKIT LAF sounding supports a changeover to sleet or perhaps freezing rain after 4 AM for northwestern sections and then a quick transition to all snow. The transition zone should then get as far south as a Kokomo to Crawfordsville line by 7 AM. Areas north of this line could see upwards of an inch or slightly more of snow overnight along with light icing. This will cause some travel difficulties for the morning commute. Timing is handled well in web site and social media graphics. && .Short Term...(This evening through Friday) Issued at 258 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 Highlights: -- High confidence in a significant, high-impact winter storm especially for areas near and north of Indianapolis, but not excluding other portions of the area. -- Uncertainties remain with amounts and timing of precipitation type transition. -- Precipitation type transition order: Rain, freezing rain, sleet, and eventually snow. Quicker transition period north, and slower transition south. -- Greater snowfall accumulations in northern and portions of central Indiana, and greater ice and sleet accumulations across southern Indiana. -- Snow amounts and water content could cause snow load issues, with property damage possible (i.e., trees, power lines, and some roofs). -- Dangerous cold possible Saturday morning including possible sub-zero temperatures. Messaging Recommendations: -- Focus should be on significant impacts to daily life including difficult to nearly impossible travel, and not necessarily on specific amounts of snow and ice as some uncertainty remains. -- Magnitudes of impacts for portions of the area could rival or exceed some of our noteworthy past events including 1-2 February 2011, 14 February 2007, and 23 December 2004. -- For further historical perspective, in Indianapolis, 10 inches or more of snow in a two day period is a top 25 event. 11.5" or more is a top 10 event. 16.1" is the record two day snow amount. Meteorological Analysis and Uncertainties: Potential scenarios have narrowed as model spread has decreased at this stage. There are a few areas of uncertainties for portions of the forecast that we will highlight below, but in general this is a fairly high-confidence forecast, albeit with inherent uncertainties related to precipitation type transitions. On the synoptic scale, water vapor channel imagery shows a well- defined shortwave trough moving from Lake Superior northeastward into Ontario with an increasingly active southern stream into the Southwest part of the country. Advected Layer Precipitable Water shows an anomalous surge of deep moisture up through the Mississippi Valley with strengthening warm advection attached to aforementioned Ontario shortwave trough. Radar echoes are already noted in eastern Illinois into west-central Indiana and these will continue to expand as warm/moist advection regime increases. We will enter a prolonged period of anomalous moisture and ascent tonight, although there were be two distinct periods of stronger ascent and deeper saturation. (1) during the day Wednesday, followed by a lull in the heavier precipitation rates across the south, and (2) early Thursday morning through at least mid-afternoon with the second shortwave trough. In between, ascent and moisture will still be present for precipitation but veering/weakening flow with departing wave in Canada will favor generally light anafrontal precipitation, except across northwest near the southwest- northeast midlevel baroclinic zone. This is where frontogenesis is quite strong and rates may be quite intense (2+ inches/hour) with mesoscale banding. Also, as heavier precipitation rates depart, trailing light-moderate deformation band could bring additional light snow with higher snow-liquid ratios Thursday evening/night, particularly across southern portions of the area. This event differs from a more classic mid-latitude system in that a dry conveyor belt isn't at play to end precipitation quickly, and an intense/anomalous closed midlevel low with well-defined deformation to its north. Instead, while there will be some periods of strong ascent, duration is the key factor with this event. Several hours of at least moderate to occasionally strong omega within the dendritic growth zone is indicated in NWP starting early Wednesday and continuing through late Thursday. The trend has been for quicker cold air arrival than earlier model runs, and we have adjusted timing of precipitation transition accordingly. This gives us enough confidence to upgrade the Winter Storm Watch to a Winter Storm Warning for our entire area (including our southern Indiana counties). By around midnight Wednesday night our entire area should be below freezing, and it is possible if trends continue we may need to speed the arrival of sub-freezing temperatures further. Uncertainty in forecast details increase slightly into Thursday given run-to-run model differences with timing/amplitude of the second wave, now organizing near California. GEFS ensemble spaghetti plots of 500-mb contours is clustered enough that we're confident in another period of deeper ascent/moisture that could be fairly significant on Thursday. For all locations, the progression of precipitation type will be rain, to a brief period of freezing rain, to sleet to snow. This transition will occur quicker in the north than the south as warm nose is a little more pronounced in the south. Models show there may even be a slight nudge of 850-mb 0C line (good proxy for warm nose on the plan view) northward which could at least stall precipitation transition. As of right now, although a transient period of freezing rain may occur, it does appear that as this happens the cold layer will become sufficiently deep for a transition to sleet. In fact, sleet may be heavy enough and last long enough accumulate across the southern portion of the area. One half inch or more of sleet accumulation seems increasingly likely across portions of southern Indiana. Implications further north where broad warm nose cools to below freezing will be for snow-liquid ratio to be sub-climatology yielding heavy wet snow, with possible heavy riming. Thus, our concern for snow loading. Across the northern portion of our area, SLR should be closer to climatology and with 25+ mph winds, some blowing and drifting of snow is possible. With a colder trend and some potential for a southward shift in QPF, we still feel confident in significant snowfall amounts of near or above 12" in some portions of the area. What we lose in QPF, we'll gain in increased SLR if the trend continues. This justifies fairly high snow amounts even down into the I-70 corridor, hence the upward trend in the forecast. A final note to our broadcast meteorologists. We always appreciate your critical role in communicating the impacts and threats during these higher impact events. Thanks for your partnership and please never hesitate to reach out to us if we can assist in any way. && .Long Term...(Friday night through Tuesday) Issued at 258 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 We will cover the post-event weather into the weekend and early next week only briefly. The main impact appears to be the potential for dangerously cold temperatures over snow pack, particularly Saturday morning when a period of light/calm winds and excellent radiational cooling exists. Sub-zero and locally 10 below or less may occur. There is a weak signal for light precipitation sometime early next week in some medium range deterministic and ensemble guidance, but confidence is low and no mention at this time. Later forecast will clarify this potential. && .Aviation...(06Z TAF Issuance) Issued at 1144 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 IMPACTS: -The rain will spread southeast and transition to sleet or freezing and finally snow. The wintry mix will start around 09z at KLAF, 21z at KHUF, 22z at KIND and 01z Thursday at KBMG. -Mostly IFR flying conditions at KLAF with VFR deteriorating to MVFR and worse at the other terminals after 11z. -Winds at KLAF 360-020 degrees less than 10 knots increasing to 12 to 17 knots and gusty after 11z. Winds will shift from the south to southeast, then northeast and finally 360-020 degrees after 18z-24z. Winds will also gust to over 20 knots following the wind shift. -non-convective low level wind shear til 09z-11z. DISCUSSION: An inverted low pressure system will draw copious amounts of moisture across the terminals overnight into Thursday night which will allow for a solid precipitation shield that will overspread the terminals from northwest to southeast. The precipitation will transition over to freezing rain and sleet from KLAF southeastward before snow becomes the dominate precipitation type. This will also bring deteriorating flying conditions to the terminals. Winds from the south will back to the north as the day goes on. Wind speeds will be generally less than 10 knots but increase after 11z with with gusts to over 20 knots. Marginal non-convective low level wind shear is expected through the overnight. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning from 7 PM Wednesday to 1 AM EST Friday for INZ053>057-060>065-067>072. Winter Storm Warning from 7 AM Wednesday to 1 AM EST Friday for INZ030-035>049-051-052. Winter Storm Warning until 1 AM EST Friday for INZ021-028-029- 031. && Update...MK Short Term...BRB/White Long Term...BRB Aviation...MK
Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 1054 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 INZ021-028-029-031-021100- Carroll-Warren-Tippecanoe-Howard- Including the cities of Delphi, Flora, Williamsport, West Lebanon, Lafayette, West Lafayette, and Kokomo 1054 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for central Indiana. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Rain will change to a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet, and snow overnight. Roads may become slick. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. A winter storm will continue Wednesday through Thursday, bringing heavy snow along with some wintry mix. Travel will become difficult and may become impossible for some areas. Blowing snow may develop by Thursday as well. Rainfall amounts prior to the transition to wintry precipitation may produce flooding along area streams and rivers late in the week and into the weekend. Cold air late this week and early this weekend could bring wind chills near 10 below zero. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report changeover time to wintry precipitation along with snow and ice amounts during the storm. && More information, along with other weather, hydrological and climate information can be found at http://weather.gov/ind INZ030-035-036-043-021100- Clinton-Fountain-Montgomery-Vermillion- Including the cities of Frankfort, Attica, Covington, Veedersburg, Crawfordsville, Clinton, and Fairview Park 1054 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for central Indiana. .DAY ONE...Tonight. A wintry mix of sleet, freezing rain, and snow may move in overnight .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. A winter storm will continue Wednesday through Thursday, bringing significant amounts of snow along with some freezing rain and sleet. Travel will become difficult to potentially impossible. There remains some uncertainty on the path of the storm which could impact precipitation types and amounts. Rainfall amounts prior to the transition to wintry precipitation may produce flooding along area streams and rivers late in the week and into the weekend. Cold air late this week and early this weekend could bring wind chills near 10 below zero. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report changeover time to wintry precipitation along with snow and ice amounts during the storm. && More information, along with other weather, hydrological and climate information can be found at http://weather.gov/ind INZ053>057-060>065-067>072-021100- Owen-Morgan-Johnson-Shelby-Rush-Sullivan-Greene-Monroe-Brown- Bartholomew-Decatur-Knox-Daviess-Martin-Lawrence-Jackson-Jennings- Including the cities of Spencer, Gosport, Martinsville, Mooresville, Greenwood, Franklin, Shelbyville, Rushville, Sullivan, Carlisle, Shelburn, Farmersburg, Linton, Bloomfield, Jasonville, Worthington, Bloomington, Nashville, Columbus, Greensburg, Vincennes, Washington, Loogootee, Shoals, Bedford, Mitchell, Seymour, and North Vernon 1054 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for central Indiana. .DAY ONE...Tonight. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. A winter storm will move in Wednesday through Thursday, bringing significant amounts of snow, freezing rain, and sleet to central Indiana. The most snow is expected across northern sections of the area with a wintry mix reducing snow amounts in the south. Significant impacts to travel will be likely. There remains some uncertainty on the path of the storm which could impact precipitation types and amounts. Rainfall amounts prior to the transition to wintry precipitation may produce flooding along area streams and rivers late in the week and into the weekend. Cold air late this week and early this weekend could bring wind chills near 10 below zero. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report changeover time to wintry precipitation along with snow and ice amounts during the storm. && More information, along with other weather, hydrological and climate information can be found at http://weather.gov/ind INZ037>042-044>049-051-052-021100- Boone-Tipton-Hamilton-Madison-Delaware-Randolph-Parke-Putnam- Hendricks-Marion-Hancock-Henry-Vigo-Clay- Including the cities of Lebanon, Zionsville, Tipton, Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Anderson, Muncie, Winchester, Union City, Farmland, Parker City, Rockville, Montezuma, Rosedale, Greencastle, Plainfield, Brownsburg, Danville, Indianapolis, Greenfield, New Castle, Terre Haute, and Brazil 1054 PM EST Tue Feb 1 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for central Indiana. .DAY ONE...Tonight. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. A winter storm will bring significant amounts of snow along with some freezing rain and sleet to the area Wednesday through Thursday. Travel will become difficult to potentially impossible. There remains some uncertainty on the path of the storm which could impact precipitation types and amounts. Rainfall amounts prior to the transition to wintry precipitation may produce flooding along area streams and rivers late in the week and into the weekend. Cold air late this week and early this weekend could bring wind chills near 10 below zero. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report changeover time to wintry precipitation along with snow and ice amounts during the storm. && More information, along with other weather, hydrological and climate information can be found at http://weather.gov/ind
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
39 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowfall ranged from 3.8 to 6.3 inches with the greatest reported total near Beanblossom. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow and ice on road conditions.
Snowfall was as great as 13 in northeastern parts of the county. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 12 to 15.5 inches with the greatest reported total in Camden. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 10.2 to 15.5 inches with the greatest reported total in West Lafayette. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 7.0 to 13.5 inches with the greatest reported total in Veedersburg. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 7.0 to around 11.0 inches with the greatest totals over northern parts of the county. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 10.2 to 12.0 inches with the greatest reported totals from Frankfort to Mulberry. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 10.0 to 12.8 inches with the greatest amounts near and west of Kokomo. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from about 8.0 to 12.5 inches with the greatest reported total in Waynetown. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 6 to 10 inches with the heaviest amounts north of Rockville. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall was as great as 13.6 west of Atlanta. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 6.5 to 8.6 inches with the greatest reported totals near both Pike and Whitestown. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.0 to 13.0 inches with the greatest amounts near Atlanta. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.8 to around 8.0 inches with the greatest amounts across northern parts of the county. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.0 to 7.0 inches with the greatest reported total near Shepardsville. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 7.0 to 9.0 inches with the greatest reported total in Clayton. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.0 to 8.8 inches with the greatest reported total in North Anderson. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.0 to 6.2 inches with the greatest reported total near Brazil. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 7.1 to 9.0 inches with the greatest reported totals near and east of Muncie. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.1 to 9.9 inches with the greatest reported totals near and east of downtown Indianapolis. A Travel Advisory was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.0 to 8.3 inches with the greatest reported total in Farmersburg. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 6.5 to 10.0 inches with the greatest reported total near New Palestine. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.4 to 7.8 inches with the greatest reported total in Brooklyn. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from about 4.8 to 6.2 inches with the greatest reported total northeast of Spencer. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 7.0 to 9.0 inches with the greatest amounts near Knightstown. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall reports ranged from 8.0 to 9.5 inches with the greatest observation at Modoc. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 4.5 to 6.3 inches with the greatest reported total in Bloomfield. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 5.9 to 8.7 inches with the greatest amounts along far northern parts of the county. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from about 4.0 to 7.0 inches with the greatest amounts in northwestern parts of the county. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow and ice on road conditions.
Total snowfall and sleet ranged from about 2.0 to 5.7 inches with the greatest amounts across northern parts of the county. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 4.8 to 10.0 inches with the greatest report near Carthage. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
Total Snowfall and sleet ranged from 3.9 to 5.7 inches with the greatest reported total in Elnora. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 3.5 to 6.1 inches with the greatest amount reported south of Harrodsburg. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
Total snowfall and sleet ranged from about 2.0 to 5.0 inches with the greatest amounts across northern parts of the county. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 3.2 to 6.5 inches with the greatest reported total near Taylorsville. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow and ice on road conditions.
Total snowfall and sleet ranged from 2.4 to 4.8 inches with the greatest reported total in Brownstown. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow and ice on road conditions.
Total snowfall and sleet ranged from 3.0 to 4.5 inches with the heaviest amounts northwest of Greensburg. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow and ice on road conditions.
Total snowfall and sleet ranged from 2.7 to 3.3 inches with the heaviest amounts across northern portions of the county. A Travel Warning was issued for the county which is the highest level of local travel advisory due to the extreme impacts of the snow and ice on road conditions.
Snowfall ranged from 4.6 to 10.0 inches with the greatest amounts in northeastern parts of the county. A Travel Watch was issued for the county due to the impacts of snow and ice on road conditions.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, February 2022
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: 999360, 999409, 999361, 999404, 999372, 999406, 999365, 999379, 999395, 999398, 999405, 999359, 999374, 999399, 999408, 999377, 999388, 999363, 999371, 999392, 999403, 999375, 999396, 999397, 999378, 999400, 999373, 999384, 999394, 999385, 999401, 999367, 999386, 999393, 999358, 999380, 999369, 999382, 999402.