The 2021 Spring Climate Summary has been issued by the National Weather Service for Fort Wayne, Indiana.
As the calendar flipped to June it became meteorological summer. So, how did these past three months of spring turn out? Well, you probably guessed it: Fort Wayne saw more rain than South Bend by 2.74 inches. Even if you don’t like it, remember that it snows in spring. South Bend tied 2004 for the second least snowiest spring on record with only 0.7 inches! Note that Fort Wayne saw nearly 5 inches.
The complete 2021 Spring Climate Summary
000
CXUS53 KIWX 010724
CLSFWA
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
324 AM EDT TUE JUN 01 2021
...................................
...THE FORT WAYNE CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE SPRING SEASON...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1991 TO 2020
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1897 TO 2021
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE
NORMAL
..............................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 97 05/28/2018
LOW -10 03/01/1967
HIGHEST 89 05/24 MM MM 91
LOWEST 19 03/02 MM MM 16
03/07
AVG. MAXIMUM 62.6 60.3 2.3 59.3
AVG. MINIMUM 39.4 39.7 -0.3 38.7
MEAN 51.0 50.0 1.0
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 1.1 -1.1 1
DAYS MAX <= 32 0 2.7 -2.7 0
DAYS MIN <= 32 27 27.8 -0.8 35
DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.1 -0.1 0
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM 18.50 2011
MINIMUM 5.07 1958
TOTALS 10.31 11.13 -0.82 9.19
DAILY AVG. 0.11 0.12 -0.01 0.10
DAYS >= .01 29 38.6 -9.6 44
DAYS >= .10 18 22.1 -4.1 18
DAYS >= .50 7 7.1 -0.1 6
DAYS >= 1.00 2 2.3 -0.3 1
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 1.85 05/09 TO 05/09
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL 19.5 1964
24 HR TOTAL MM
TOTALS 4.9 5.4 -0.5 3.4
SINCE 7/1 35.8 33.6 2.2 26.5
SNOWDEPTH AVG. T 0
DAYS >= TRACE 5 5.7 -0.7 10
DAYS >= 1.0 1 1.8 -0.8 2
GREATEST
SNOW DEPTH 4 04/21 1
24 HR TOTAL 4.2 04/20 TO 04/20
DEGREE DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 1344 1448 -104 1499
SINCE 7/1 5713 5943 -230 MM
COOLING TOTAL 77 69 8 56
SINCE 1/1 77 70 7 56
..............................................................
WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 9.6
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 38/070 DATE 05/28
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 50/060 DATE 03/18
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.59
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 20
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 43
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 29
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 63
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 9 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 5 RAIN 9
LIGHT RAIN 35 FREEZING RAIN 0
LT FREEZING RAIN 1 HAIL 0
HEAVY SNOW 1 SNOW 2
LIGHT SNOW 5 SLEET 1
FOG 31 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 4
HAZE 8
- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.
&&
SPRING 2021
THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 51.0 DEGREES IS 1.0 DEGREE ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 50.0 DEGREES. PRECIPITATION TOTALED 10.31 INCHES WHICH IS 0.82 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 63RD DRIEST SPRING ON RECORD. SNOW TOTALED 4.9 INCHES WHICH IS 0.5 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 54TH SNOWIEST SPRING ON RECORD. THIS IS THE SNOWIEST SPRING SINCE 8.6 INCHES IN 2015, BUT IS COMPARABLE TO THE 4.5 INCHES THAT FELL IN 2018.
ACCORDING TO THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR, "ABNORMALLY DRY" TO "MODERATE DROUGHT" CONDITIONS CONTINUED TO IMPACT AT LEAST A PORTION OF OUR AREA THROUGH THE SPRING. FORT WAYNE WAS DECLARED "ABNORMALLY DRY" AT THE START OF SPRING. THE AREAS EFFECTED MOVED FROM SOUTH TO NORTH THROUGH THE SPRING. A NOTABLE DEGRADATION OF DROUGHT OCCURRED OVER MUCH OF MICHIGAN BY THE END OF THE SEASON. AS OF THIS WRITING, FORT
WAYNE IS NOT EXPERIENCING DROUGHT CONDITIONS.
A MONTH BY MONTH SUMMARY IS BELOW.
MARCH
...WARM WITH A DRY START, BUT A WET FINISH...
MARCH WILL BE KNOWN AS A WARM MONTH. THIS IS MAINLY BECAUSE THE AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 55.8 DEGREES AND RANKED AS THE 6TH WARMEST. FORT WAYNE HAD AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 43.7 DEGREES FOR MARCH, WHICH RANKED AS THE 14TH WARMEST MARCH.
WITH HOW WARM MARCH WAS FOR FORT WAYNE, IT ONLY RECEIVED A TENTH OF SNOW ON THE 15TH AND A TRACE ON THE 18TH. THE 0.1 INCHES OF SNOW FOR THE MONTH RANKED AS TIED FOR THE 11TH LEAST SNOWIEST MARCH.
FORT WAYNE HAD A VERY DRY START TO MARCH WITH MARCH 1 TO MARCH 17 RECEIVING ONLY 0.15 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THIS RANKED AS THE THIRD DRIEST STRETCH BEHIND 1930 AND 1910. FURTHERMORE, 14 STRAIGHT DAYS OF PRECIPITATION TOTALING LESS THAN 0.02 INCHES OCCURRED FROM MARCH 1ST TO MARCH 14TH. THIS RANKED AS THE 9TH LONGEST STRETCH OF "DRY" WEATHER IN MARCH. AFTER THE DRY START, A PERIOD OF ACTIVE WEATHER MOVED IN FOR THE LATTER PART OF THE MONTH WITH MARCH 18TH TO MARCH 31ST RECEIVING 2.54 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THIS RANKED AS THE 13TH WETTEST STRETCH FOR THAT PERIOD. OVERALL, FORT WAYNE RECEIVED 2.69 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH, RANKING AS THE 57TH DRIEST MARCH.
APRIL
...DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUE WITH ROLLER COASTER TEMPERATURES...
FROM A TEMPERATURE POINT OF VIEW, APRIL FEATURED TWO LARGE EPISODES OF TEMPERATURE SWINGS. AFTER A CRISP START ON THE 1ST AND 2ND, TEMPERATURES WARMED DRAMATICALLY THEREAFTER. THE PERIOD FROM APRIL TO APRIL 13TH RANKS AS THE 7TH WARMEST ON RECORD, WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 53.5 DEGREES. WITHIN THIS STRETCH, ON THE 6TH, FORT WAYNE PICKED UP ITS FIRST 80-DEGREE DAY OF THE YEAR. THIS IS ABOUT 19 DAYS SOONER THAN AVERAGE AND IS THE EARLIEST 80-DEGREE DAY SINCE MARCH 15, 2012. THIS TIES 1921 AS THE 11TH EARLIEST 80-DEGREE DAY ON RECORD (14TH EARLIEST IF DUPLICATES ARE CONSIDER TO EACH HAVE THEIR OWN RANK).
FOLLOWING THAT WARM SPELL, A STRETCH OF DAYS WITH BELOW-NORMAL TEMPERATURES WAS OBSERVED FROM THE 14TH TO 25TH (THOUGH, THE 19TH WAS 1 DEGREE ABOVE NORMAL). THIS PERIOD RANKED AS THE 6TH COLDEST ON RECORD. THE HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 40 DEGREES ON THE 20TH NARROWLY MISSED THE RECORD OF 37 SET IN 1947. THE LOW OF 27 DEGREES ON THE 22ND TIED THE RECORD SET IN 1986. JUST A FEW DAYS LATER, HIGH TEMPERATURES SOARED INTO THE 80S ONCE MORE WITH A HIGH OF 83 DEGREES ON THE 23RD; 3 DEGREES SHY OF THE 1925 RECORD.
THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 50.2 DEGREES WHICH IS NEAR THE NORMAL OF 50.0 DEGREES.
DROUGHT CONDITIONS WERE UNCHANGED NORTH AND EAST OF FORT WAYNE THIS MONTH, WITH SOME IMPROVEMENT NOTED TO THE WEST. PRECIPITATION WAS DISTRIBUTED SOMEWHAT EVENLY THROUGH THE MONTH AND TOTALED 2.95 INCHES WHICH IS 0.57 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS TIES 1984 AS THE 55TH DRIEST ON RECORD. SINCE JANUARY 1ST, PRECIPITATION IS 1.45 INCHES BELOW NORMAL.
LASTLY, IT WOULD NOT BE APRIL IN THE MIDWEST WITHOUT SOME SNOW! SNOW OCCURRED ON THREE DAYS THIS MONTH TOTALING 4.8 INCHES. MUCH OF THIS, 4.2 INCHES, FELL ON THE 20TH WHICH SHATTERED THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 0.2 INCHES IN 1953. THE TWO-DAY SNOW TOTAL FROM THIS WEATHER SYSTEM WAS 4.8 INCHES AND TIES APRIL 4 AND 5, 1982 AS THE 10TH GREATEST TWO-DAY SNOWFALL IN APRIL. THE MONTHLY TOTAL OF 4.8 INCHES IS 3.8 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 8TH SNOWIEST APRIL ON RECORD. IT IS THE MOST SNOW IN APRIL SINCE 7.5 INCHES IN 1994.
MAY
...FROSTY NIGHTS AND WELCOME RAIN...
AFTER A MILD START TO THE MONTH WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES REACHED THE 70S AND 80S, TEMPERATURES QUICKLY TUMBLED THEREAFTER. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DEPARTURE FROM THE 5TH THROUGH 15TH RANGED FROM 3 TO 18 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. DURING THAT STRETCH, A NUMBER OF FROST ADVISORIES WERE ISSUED. PATIENCE PAID OFF AS SUMMER-LIKE TEMPERATURES RETURNED FOR THE 16TH TO 26TH WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DEPARTURE AS GREAT AS 14 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL (24TH). IN THE END THE, MONTH`S AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 59.1 DEGREES. THIS IS 2.2 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 50TH COLDEST MAY ON RECORD.
THIS MONTH, RAIN ONCE AGAIN FAVORED THE GREATER FORT WAYNE AREA INSTEAD OF THE THOSE TOWARD THE MICHIGAN STATELINE. FORT WAYNE RECEIVED 1.70 INCHES MORE PRECIPITATION THAN SOUTH BEND. THIS MONTH, RAIN ESSENTIALLY FELL IN TWO SPURTS: 1.85 INCHES ON THE 9TH (NEW DAILY RECORD, BREAKING THE PREVIOUS OF 1.51 INCHES IN 2003), AND 2.04 INCHES FROM THE 26TH THROUGH 28TH. NO MEASURABLE RAINFALL OCCURRED FROM THE 10TH THROUGH 25TH WHICH WORSENED DROUGHT CONDITIONS TEMPORARILY. THE MONTHLY TOTAL RAINFALL OF 4.67 INCHES IS 0.09 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 32 WETTEST MAY ON RECORD.
BROWN/ROLLER/MARSILI
$$
The latest National Weather Service weather story | Official National Weather Service Northern Indiana website