Little surprise January 2014 leaving mark on recordbook

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Inch by inch January 2014 may be on its way to becoming the greatest snow on turf in Greencastle and across central Indiana.

Although the Putnam County area dodged bullets for the most part this past Saturday and Tuesday, it nonetheless added to a growing local snowfall total with just 0.9 inches recorded on Saturday and a mere 1.5 inches falling on Tuesday.

"The wind was a factor, but I had 1.5 inches on my snowboard this morning," local weather observer Diana Foust told the Banner Graphic Tuesday.

That means that through Tuesday, Foust has recorded 22.7 inches of snow for January (Indianapolis, meanwhile, has officially had 24.4 inches at the airport this month). And with 10 days to go in the month, that already makes it the third-snowiest January of all time.

Thus January 2014 trails only the blizzard-enhanced January 1978 at 30.6 inches and 1996, which saw 25.2 total inches of snow.

An average January in central Indiana sees 8.8 inches of snow, making it was likeliest month for snow. December regularly averages 6.9 inches, while February usually sees 6.5 inches of snow and March musters an average of 2.6 inches.

Not only is January 2014 already the third-snowiest January on record, it is also the fifth snowiest month ever in central Indiana. It trails only January 1978 and its 30.6 inches, March 1906 (30.4 inches), December 1973 (27.5) and January 1996 (25.2).

Meanwhile, total snowfall recorded for the winter season (December and January combined) in Greencastle has been 31.25 inches, Foust reported.

"I'm losing my enthusiasm for measuring snow and checking water content," the weather observer noted Tuesday, voicing frustration with the continued snow and cold.

Winter 2013-14 has yet to crack the top all-time snowiest Indiana winters, but with the next snow it is poised to bump 1892-93 (32.4 inches) from 10th place and could leap over 1983-84 (32.6) and 2009-10 (33.0 inches) and into eighth all-time.

The snowiest winter ever in central Indiana was 1981-82 at 51 inches, followed by 1977-78 at 49.7 inches. Among more recent winters, 2002-03 ranks third at 46.9 inches of snow.

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