From the NWS in Indianapolis...
The Weather Takes A Wild And Woolly Ride In January 2008
A saying in Indiana is "If you don’t like the weather...wait 10 minutes and it will change." was never truer than in January 2008. On the 29th...one minute the temperature was 54 degrees and raining and less than two hours later it was 27 degrees and snowing...with severe weather and a small tornado occurring in this short time span.
Temperature swings were frequent during January. The first three days of the New Year averaged the lowest at Indianapolis since January 1977. By the 7th the average temperature of 65 was the highest ever recorded for Indianapolis. Just as Indianapolis residents were thinking spring had arrived during that 10 day early January warm spell...winter weather abruptly returned on the 14th. Winter weather conditions through the 26th almost entirely offset the record warmth of the 6th and 7th.
Warm temperatures surged in on the 28th and 29th ahead of a very strong cold front. A squall line formed late in the day on the 29th bringing severe weather and winds over 100 mph in small portions of the Indianapolis area. Winter weather quickly returned after the frontal passage.
When all the extreme weather was totaled and averaged out... Indianapolis had a monthly average temperature of 28.7 degrees...2.2 degrees above normal. The warmest January on record was 1880 with an average temperature of 45 degrees. The coldest was 1977 at 10.2 degrees.
Most of the rainfall during January occurred on the 8th when 1.41 inches fell. Daily melted precipitation on the remaining days of January was less than two tenths of an inch. The monthly total melted precipitation was near normal at 2.14 inches...just 0.34 inches below normal. The driest January on record was 1944 with only 0.21 inches of precipitation. The wettest was only 6 years later...1950...with 12.69 inches of precipitation.
Snowfall for January was also on the light side. Snow fell on 16 days during January. The most snow fell on the 22nd with only 1.1 inches. The monthly snowfall total of 4.8 inches was 4.5 inches below normal.
The strongest wind measured at the airport was 58 mph during the evening of the 29th.
Thunder was heard on one day during January.
Total sunshine during January was 47 per cent of possible.
During the month new record highs were set on the 6th at 63 degrees and 7th at 68 degrees and a new high minimum was set on the 7th at 61 degrees. A new daily rainfall record was set on the 8th with 1.41 inches. There were no low temperature records set during January.
