RTV6 meteorologist agrees we seem to have skipped fall

Friday, November 16, 2018
With a room full of South Putnam sixth-graders as his audience, RTV6 meteorologist Kyle Mounce discusses freezing rain, missing seasons, solar eclipses and other topics Friday afternoon.
Banner Graphic/Jared Jernagan

Have you ever observed — perhaps very recently — that weather in Indiana seems to be passing straight from summer into winter, skipping over fall entirely?

You’re not alone. Even a weather professional puts it into those terms.

“We didn’t really get a fall, did we?” RTV6 meteorologist Kyle Mounce asked South Putnam Middle School sixth-graders Friday afternoon. “It kind of seems that way in Indiana lately — we seem to get only two seasons, summer straight into winter.”

Mounce, now in his sixth year at Channel 6, visited with the students of science teacher Brad Laney, sharing observations on the current weather as well as weather trends in Indiana overall.

“It’s been whacky. We just went straight into winter,” Mounce said.

And for anyone looking forward to a rebound to warmer temperatures, don’t hold your breath.

“I don’t really see it bouncing back because we’re just getting closer to winter,” Mounce said. “We’re getting closer to average but that’s because average is just getting colder.”

The Avon native said he first started thinking about a career in meteorology when he was a middle schooler himself.

“It was because of severe weather when I was a kid,” Mounce said. “Storms didn’t scare me but I wanted to learn how it formed and why it moved through the way it did.”

Mounce emphasized for the students the number of different school subjects he utilizes on a daily basis, including science, math, communications, computer skills and English.

Officially, he graduated with a degree in communications from Indiana University and completed his meteorological studies at Mississippi State.

Mounce has managed to turn it into what he considers a fun job.

“I kind of predict the future,” Mounce said. “But it’s limited to weather, so if you want lottery numbers, I don’t have those.”

Among the weather facts Mounce shared was the highest recorded temperature in Central Indiana history, a 106-degree mark on July 14, 1936.

However, on particularly scorching summer days, the occasional bank thermometer creeps into temperatures in this range or even higher. Mounce had an answer for this.

“You ever pass those bank thermometers and they say it’s over 100?” Mounce asked. “Those aren’t quite accurate because we officially measure the temperature in the shade.”

But who’s really thinking about triple-digit temperatures right now? Mounce had a bit more to say about the freezing ran that tormented the state Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

It is a result, Mounce said, of the precipitation falling through layers of different temperatures on its way to the ground.

What started as snow up high in the atmosphere turned into raindrops as the temperature partway down topped 32 degrees.

“What had been snow fell into that warmer air,” Mounce said.

Nearer the ground, the colder temperatures returned.

“It didn’t have time to get back into snow form and it became freezing rain,” Mounce explained. “We had rain but then it froze and we had ice. And you had a two-hour delay.”

Another lesson to keep in mind from Mounce’s visit — when the meteorologist forecasts bad weather, he has to deal with it just like you do.

With this in mind, Mounce was fortunate the freezing rain didn’t come on the day he was traveling to speak to students.

“I’m glad it was yesterday and not today,” Mounce said.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: