Wind, rain make for more March madness

Monday, March 27, 2023

Well, spring has sprung and the vernal equinox is behind us, and for most of the past week that’s meant primarily wind and rain across central Indiana.

Putnam County wound up with rainfall totals and wind reports among the highest in the state during the period Thursday through Saturday.

In fact, the National Weather Service reported that a 49-mph wind gust at 8 a.m. on Saturday in Cloverdale as heavy rain moved out Saturday morning, giving way to stiff winds in the area. The Cloverdale report was the seventh-strongest gust across the state and occurred three-fourths of a mile north of Cloverdale.

Greencastle, meanwhile, registered 40-mph winds at 1:35 p.m. Saturday, the weather service said.

Turning to rainfall amounts, three locations in Putnam County reported more than 2.5 inches of rain in the storm ending early Saturday morning. Cloverdale again led the way with 3.17 inches of rain, while Greencastle logged 2.88 inches and a report of 2.62 inches came from the Reelsville area.

That is pretty significant rainfall since the average in west-central Indiana during a typical March is 3.75 inches. Almost a month’s rainfall in a 24-hour period. Many areas of west-central Indiana had recorded 5.12 inches of March rainfall as of Saturday.

The yearly rainfall average in west-central Indiana is 43.63 inches, according to National Weather Service records. With January producing 3.97 inches and February 2.43 inches, the 2023 rainfall total to date is at 11.52 inches.

As if to prove that it’s spring in Indiana, the weather rebounded to a sunny 64 degrees at 6 p.m. Sunday before dropping to the low 40s Monday.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: