10.79 inches of rain sets April record

Putnam County residents can certainly expect oodles of May flowers if that old April showers adage holds true.

For the Greencastle area received record-setting April rainfall, according to figures recorded daily by local weather observer Diana Foust.

While Indianapolis finished the 30 days of April with an official total of 8.59 inches of rainfall, as logged in at the National Weather Service (NWS) reporting station at the Indy Airport, the Greencastle area saw an additional two inches of rain last month.

The local rainfall for April 2013 totals 10.79 inches, Foust reported.

The week of April 14-20 alone saw Greencastle rainfall totaling 6.89 inches, nearly twice the normal monthly April output.

While that won't go down in the official NWS records -- since Indianapolis numbers seem to carry more weight -- it would easily eclipse the April mark of 8.60 inches recorded in 1893. The Indy figure for April 2013 (8.59 inches) came in just one-hundredth of an inch shy of tying the 120-year-old record.

So while the month just completed will stand as the second wettest April on record at Indianapolis, a wide disparity shows up in Hoosier precipitation for the month.

While a normal April produces an average of 3.81 inches of rain in the Indy area, April 2013 showered the region with 8.35 inches at Lafayette, 7.48 inches at Terre Haute, 6.46 inches at Eagle Creek in Indianapolis, 5.77 inches at Muncie and 5.15 at Bloomington.

For Indiana overall, there was a rather sharp cutoff for the heavy rainfall. Areas south and east of a line from Vincennes to Richmond were relatively dry and received only thee to five inches of April rain.

Serious local flooding occurred in the communities of Tipton, Elwood, Zionsville, Kokomo and Marion. Flood levels along Wildcat Creek and Sugar Creek in west-central Indiana were the highest in 100 years.

Other small streams (with period of records only from the 1950s or later) -- including the Big Walnut in Putnam County -- set record levels.

The worst river flooding was along the Wabash River from Lafayette to Vincennes. Flood crests were the highest in 50 to 70 years for much of this stretch of the river. Significant flooding developed along the White River southwest of Indiana and extended through the Lower Wabash River.

Flooding continued into May along the Wabash River in western Indiana and the White River in southwest Indiana. Little or no flooding occurred in the East Fork White River watershed in eastern and southern Indiana.

Temperature-wise April was also a tumultuous period across Indiana.

The cool temperatures experienced across central Indiana in March continued into the first few days of April. A warm-up commenced with many locations reaching 70 degrees for the first time in 2013 on April 6 and 7.

For Indianapolis, April 9 was the first 80-degree day since last Sept. 13, a stretch of 207 consecutive days with highs below 80 degrees. That made for the longest consecutive stretch of highs below 80 degrees since 1995-96 when the first 80-degree day was not recorded until early May.

The month ended on a warm note as highs rose into the upper 70s and low 80s on the 30th.

At Indianapolis, there were 14 days with above-normal average temperatures for April, 15 days with below-normal average temperatures and one day with normal average temperatures.

Meanwhile, the official outlook for May 2013 from the Climate Prediction Center indicates an equal chance for above-normal, normal or below-normal temperatures for central Indiana. At Indianapolis, the average temperature for the month is 62.7 degrees.

The outlook calls for an equal chance of above-normal, normal or below-normal May precipitation. The average rainfall for May at Indianapolis is 5.05 inches.