Heavy rain and gusty winds from Tropical Storm Moke will impact the Big Island into Monday, risking life-threatening flooding and mudslides in windward and southeast areas. Severe thunderstorms are expected across the northern Rockies/Plains and northern Great Basin. Dangerous heat persists across the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley, building further into the Southwest by midweek. Read More >
Overview
Roughly the first half of May 2020 saw well below normal temperatures across central Indiana. Many days saw average temperatures more than 10 degrees below normal. May 9, 2020 saw record cold temperatures across much of Indiana as very cold air flowed into the area from Canada.
Temperature
Much of the first half of may saw well below normal temperatures. Below is a plot of departure from normal for average temperature for May 1-12 (courtesy of the Midwest Regional Climate Center, click for a larger version):
Temperatures dipped into the 20s across central Indiana early on May 9, 2020. At Indianapolis, the low temperature of 27 degrees not only set a record low temperature for the date but also set the record for coldest temperature on record for the month of May. The previous record for the month of May was 28 degrees, set in 1966. A list of some central Indiana low temperatures is below. Below this is an image which shows low temperatures across the Midwest the morning of the 9th.
List of central Indiana climate sites' low temperatures for May 9 (from north to south):
Image of low temperatures for the Midwest (courtesy of the Midwest Regional Climate Center):
Environment
Persistent northwest flow in the upper atmosphere allowed cold air from Canada to flow into central Indiana.
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| Figure 1: 850mb Heights & Temperatures for 8:00 AM EDT May 9 |
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