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2016 finishes as fifth-warmest year in recorded Hoosier history
Warmer than normal temperatures for much of the year helped 2016 become one of the warmest years in recent memory in central Indiana.
In the Indianapolis area (which includes Putnam County), 2016 was the fifth warmest over the period of recordkeeping extending back to 1871, according to data prepared by the Indianapolis National Weather Service climate team.
The winter of 2015-16 was mild with only short periods of colder than normal weather through January and February. Snow was limited through the winter with the warmer than normal temperatures, with many areas receiving only about half of the average snowfall for the winter season.
After a cool start to March, a much warmer pattern set in for most of the early spring before settling into a mild and wet regime through April and the first half of May. Warmer than normal conditions returned by late May and early June and would persist for much of the summer season.
Wetter conditions developed by late June and would last through a stormy August highlighted by two unusual and record-breaking tornado outbreaks for the Hoosier state. Severe thunderstorms on the evening of Aug. 15 produced eight tornadoes, a new August daily record for twisters in Indiana.
That record would stand for a mere nine days before a larger and more destructive tornado outbreak occurred on Aug. 24. Eleven tornadoes occurred during the afternoon and evening of Aug. 24, including a large tornado that caused significant damage in Kokomo.
Calmer conditions arrived as the calendar turned to September, but temperatures remained very warm through the fall season as most locations did not experience their first freeze or see snowflakes until well into November.
The Indianapolis area experienced its second warmest fall on record, behind only the 1931 fall season. Highs nearly reached 80 on the first two days of November, and it wasn’t until the weekend before Thanksgiving that more sustained cold finally arrived and stayed in the region.
The coldest December in six years wrapped up the year, highlighted by a couple nights of subzero lows on Dec. 18-19 Indianapolis started the morning of Dec. 19 at -1 degrees, the first December day with a subzero temperature since Christmas Day 2004.
Miscellaneous 2016 information for the Indianapolis area:
Date of final spring frost -- May 16.
Date of final measurable spring snow -- March 3 (1.2 inches).
Date of first fall frost -- Nov. 10.
Date of first measurable fall snow -- Dec. 13 (3.9 inches).
Hottest high temperature -- 93 (Aug. 11).
Coldest low temperature -- -1 (Dec. 19).
Coldest high temperature -- 13 (Jan. 18 and Dec. 15).
Warmest low temperature -- 77 (July 22, July 24).
Heaviest daily rainfall -- 2.71 inches (July 18).
Heaviest daily snowfall -- 3.9 inches (Dec. 13).
Wettest seven-day period -- 3.95 inches (July 12-18).
Most consecutive days with temperatures below freezing -- 8 (Jan. 16-23).
Most consecutive days with highs of 90 or hotter -- 5 (July 21-25).
Most consecutive days with measurable precipitation -- 8 (May 7-14).
Most consecutive days with no measurable precipitation -- 11 (July 30-Aug. 11).
Daily records tied or broken at Indianapolis during 2016:
Feb. 2 -- Maximum temperature, 61 degrees (old record 59 in 1911).
Feb. 20 -- Maximum temperature, 72 degrees (old record 67 in 1983).
Feb. 24 -- Precipitation, 1.7 inches (old record 1.05 in 1956).
July 3 -- Coldest maximum temperature, 67 degrees (old record 70 in 1924).
July 18 -- Precipitation, 2.71 inches (old record 2.61 in 1996).
Sept. 17 -- Precipitation, 1.09 inches (old record 1.07 in 1969).
Oct. 17 -- Warmest minimum temperature, 64 degrees (old record 62 in 1881, 1928, 1935, 1947 and 1980).
Oct. 18 -- Warmest minimum temperature, 68 degrees (old record 65 in 2007).
Nov. 2 -- Maximum temperature, 78 degrees (tied record set in 1961).
Nov. 18 -- Maximum temperature, 75 degrees (old record 73 degrees set in 1930 and 1941).