Rainy Tuesday

The forecast for Lafayette from the NWS...

Tuesday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 57. East northeast wind between 8 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible. 

Tuesday Night: A chance of showers, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. North northwest wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. 

Rainfall From Yesterday...Rainfall Expected For Tonight

0.35" of rainfall was recorded at LAF yesterday. More showers and possibly thunderstorms are expected tonight and overnight through early Wednesday. Below is one model's estimate on the next round of rainfall (about 0.50" expected locally, more to the northwest, less to the south).

Rainfall Totals From Yesterday

Rainfall totals from yesterday from the official reporting sites in Indiana.

Lafayette: 0.31"

Shelbyville: 0.19"
Evansville: 0.23"
Muncie: 0.24"
Fort Wayne: 0.27"
Indianapolis: 0.39"
Bloomington: 0.43"
South Bend: 0.51"
Goshen: 0.59"
Indianapolis - Eagle Creek: 0.72"
Terre Haute: 0.77"

Rain In The Forecast

Forecast for Lafayette for the next 2 days from the Indianapolis NWS...

Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Southeast wind between 5 and 8 mph. 

Wednesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. Southeast wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. 

Thursday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. West southwest wind between 6 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. 

Thursday Night: A slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 50. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Severe Drought Conditions Over For Indiana

There remains a small area of western Indiana that still is under a moderate drought. Otherwise, across the board improvement in the past 7 days. Below is the updated drought monitor map for Indiana (through September 27) and 7 day total precipitation through yesterday morning.

Rainfall Totals For The Past 2 Days

Rainfall totals for the past 2 days (9/24 and 9/25) at LAF and local CoCoRahs observers.

Purdue Airport: 1.26"
Lafayette 2.2 NE: 1.29"
Lafayette 0.5 S: 1.43"
Lafayette 2.2 S: 1.45"
West Lafayette 5.1 WSW: 1.98"

Rainfall Totals So Far...Rainfall For Today & Tonight

0.50" of rain has been recorded at LAF since yesterday (through 9AM this morning). More rain is in the forecast for today and tonight, with totals possibly approaching an additional 2.00" of rain.
Here's the forecast for Lafayette for today and tonight from the Indianapolis NWS office...

Today: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 64. South southeast wind between 6 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. 

Tonight: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 2am, then showers likely. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 55. East southeast wind between 6 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible. 

Storm Reports And Rainfall Totals From Yesterday

Rainfall totals from yesterday:

West Lafayette 5.1 WSW: 0.53"
Lafayette 2.2 NE: 0.65"
LAF: 0.76"
Lafayette 2.2 S: 0.93"

Storm reports:

0840 PM     TSTM WND DMG     LAFAYETTE               40.41N 86.87W
08/24/2011                   TIPPECANOE         IN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            LARGE TREE DOWN FOOT TO FOOT AND HALF IN DIAMETER

0840 PM     TSTM WND DMG     1 E LAFAYETTE           40.41N 86.85W
08/24/2011                   TIPPECANOE         IN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            2 INCH DIAMETER LIMBS REPORTED DOWN

0846 PM     TSTM WND GST     LAFAYETTE               40.41N 86.87W
08/24/2011  E60.00 MPH       TIPPECANOE         IN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0857 PM     HAIL             ROSSVILLE               40.42N 86.60W
08/24/2011  M1.75 INCH       CLINTON            IN   BROADCAST MEDIA

0857 PM     HAIL             2 E ROSSVILLE           40.42N 86.56W
08/24/2011  M1.00 INCH       CLINTON            IN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0857 PM     HAIL             1 W ROSSVILLE           40.42N 86.61W
08/24/2011  M1.00 INCH       CLINTON            IN   BROADCAST MEDIA

0900 PM     HAIL             2 NE LAFAYETTE          40.43N 86.84W
08/24/2011  M1.00 INCH       TIPPECANOE         IN   BROADCAST MEDIA

Rainfall Amounts From Yesterday

Lafayette 2.2 NE: 0.36"
LAF: 0.43"
Lafayette 2.2 S: 0.43"
West Lafayette 5.1 WSW: 0.47"

24 Hour Rainfall Totals

24 hour totals through 9AM this morning:

LAF: 0.35"
Lafayette 2.2 S: 0.08"
Lafayette 2.2 NE: 0.33"
West Lafayette 5.1 WSW: 0.78"

Rainfall Since June 28th

Moderate drought conditions have developed to our south according to the weekly drought monitor: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_midwest.htm

Rainfall totals and departures since July 1st across central Indiana...

Lafayette (LAF): 5.88" (+0.64")

Muncie (MIE): 4.28" (-1.39")

Terre Haute (HUF): 2.62" (-3.43")

Bloomington (BMG): 2.47" (-3.72")

Indianapolis Eagle Creek (EYE): 2.17" (-3.21")

Indianapolis (IND): 0.78" (-4.99")

Rainfall Totals From Monday

Purdue airport - LAF
Monday rainfall: 1.42"
August rainfall: 2.51"
Rainfall since June 1st: 12.37"


CoCoRahs reports: http://www.cocorahs.org/ViewData/StateDailyPrecipReports.aspx?state=IN
West Lafayette 5.1 SW: 2.13"
West Lafayette 2.7 NW: 1.12"
Lafayette 2.2 NE: 0.86"
Lafayette 2.2 S: 1.18"
Otterbein 2.3 SE: 1.11"
West Lafayette 4.9 W: 1.46"

Summer Rainfall Totals

Since June 1st, 10.95" of rainfall has been recorded at LAF. Here's the rainfall totals at other sites across Indiana.

Rainfall totals and departures from June 1 through August 7

Evansville...13.51" (+5.15")
Lafayette...10.95" (+2.12")
Bloomington...8.45" (-2.14")
South Bend...8.31" (-0.49")
Terre Haute...7.24" (-2.78")
Shelbyville...6.88" (-2.87")
Muncie...6.85" (-2.97")
Indianapolis...6.49" (-3.05")
Fort Wayne...4.71" (-4.55")

Needing Rainfall

Looking at the radar at noon today, there are storms firing to the north of here...but looks like they will remain a miss. Still a chance of storms this afternoon, but I'm not confident...

Abnormally dry conditions exist for a good chunk of the state of Indiana: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?IN,MW

Rainfall Totals From Overnight

Only 0.09" at the airport, though it looked to be on the western fringes of the storms last night. If you were in Lafayette or east, you fared better. Storms were pretty active with vivid lightning and decent wind gusts.

Local CoCoRahs reports:

8/3/2011	7:00 AM	IN-TP-22	Lafayette 2.2 S	0.25	NA	NA	IN	Tippecanoe
8/3/2011	7:00 AM	IN-TP-28	Lafayette 2.2 NE	0.26	NA	NA	IN	Tippecanoe
8/3/2011	7:00 AM	IN-TP-29	West Lafayette 4.9 W	0.29	NA	NA	IN	Tippecanoe
8/3/2011	7:00 AM	IN-TP-32	West Lafayette 2.7 NW	0.32	NA	NA	IN	Tippecanoe

90º+ Streak Halted

Yesterday failed to reach 90º, so the heat wave/streak ends at 7 days. Storms and clouds helped do the deed...and in terms of rainfall, 0.74" was recorded at LAF bringing the July total to 3.25" (9.74" since June 1st).

July 17th: 93º
July 18th: 94º
July 19th: 97º
July 20th: 98º
July 21st: 101º
July 22nd: 98º
July 23rd: 95º

Rain, Glorious Rain

0.65" so far at LAF through 1:00PM today. Much needed, plus it's a nice temporary reprieve from the heat.

7 In A Row...And Counting

The 95º high temp yesterday made it the 7th day in a row with temps of 90º+. The NWS has bumped predicted highs on Monday and Tuesday to 90º, instead of the earlier thought mid to upper 80's. So it looks like the streak will go on for the foreseeable future.

0.08" of rainfall was recorded at LAF yesterday. Decent chance today and tonight of some more rainfall, but not a sure thing. Keep your fingers crossed...

Current heat wave statistics
High temperatures:
Sunday: 93º
Monday: 94º 
Tuesday: 97º
Wednesday: 98º
Thursday: 101º
Friday: 98º
Saturday: 95º

High dewpoint readings:
Sunday: 76º
Monday: 77º
Tuesday: 81º
Wednesday: 80º
Thursday: 78º
Friday: 78º
Saturday: 79º

Cool Yesterday, Cool Today

The high temp at LAF only reached 71º, which is 14º below the normal high at the airport. 0.08" of rainfall was recorded at LAF, which brings the June total to an even 6.00"...well above normal to date. Today looks to feature similar temps, with again a chance of showers.


Yesterday's scorecard for the forecast contest:
WLFI: 87º/61º (+16/-2)
NWS: 77º/57º (+6/-6)
TWC: 76º/58º (+5/-5)
AccuWx: 76º/60º (+5/-3)
Actual: 71º/63º