Climatological Report (Seasonal)
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
677
CXUS53 KIWX 011602
CLSSBN
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
1102 AM EST SAT MAR 01 2025
...................................
...THE SOUTH BEND CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE SEASON, FROM
12/1/2024 TO 2/28/2025...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1991 TO 2020
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1893 TO 2025
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE
NORMAL
..............................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 74 02/25/2000
LOW -22 01/20/1943
01/25/1897
HIGHEST 59 02/28 MM MM 73
LOWEST -5 01/21 MM MM -9
AVG. MAXIMUM 34.4 34.1 0.3 41.6
AVG. MINIMUM 20.8 19.7 1.1 27.7
MEAN 27.6 26.9 0.7
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS MAX <= 32 42 38.7 3.3 13
DAYS MIN <= 32 78 77.5 0.5 58
DAYS MIN <= 0 4 5.6 -1.6 6
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM 13.35 1950
MINIMUM 2.77 1945
TOTALS 5.45 7.37 -1.92 8.08
DAILY AVG. 0.06 0.08 -0.02 0.09
DAYS >= .01 46 44.1 1.9 45
DAYS >= .10 14 18.8 -4.8 25
DAYS >= .50 2 3.5 -1.5 3
DAYS >= 1.00 1 1.0 0.0 1
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 1.48
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL 136.3 1978
24 HR TOTAL 11.8 12/25/2020 TO 12/25/2020
TOTALS 34.8 51.4 -16.6 26.4
SINCE 7/1 37.7 56.7 -19.0 10.9
SNOWDEPTH AVG. 1 1
DAYS >= TRACE 40 31.8 8.2 29
DAYS >= 1.0 12 16.3 -4.3 7
GREATEST
SNOW DEPTH 5 02/15 10
24 HR TOTAL 6.1 12/05 TO 12/05
DEGREE DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 3341 3425 -84 2742
SINCE 7/1 4222 4734 -512 3839
COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0
SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 0
..............................................................
WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 10.4
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 41/260 DATE 12/04
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 58/250 DATE 12/04
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.67
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 18
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 25
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 47
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 71
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 0 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 1 RAIN 4
LIGHT RAIN 19 FREEZING RAIN 0
LT FREEZING RAIN 6 HAIL 0
HEAVY SNOW 8 SNOW 18
LIGHT SNOW 40 SLEET 0
FOG 52 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 6
HAZE 51
- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.
&&
...DRIER, LESS SNOWY, AND NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES FOR WINTER 24-
25...
THIS WINTER`S WEAK LA NINA SOMEWHAT DELIVERED AS ANTICPATED;
TEMPERATURES WERE NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL WHILE PRECIPITATION
(ESPECIALLY SNOWFALL) WAS BELOW NORMAL. THIS WINTER`S LA NINA DID
DEVELOP, BUT ARRIVED MUCH LATER IN THE SEASON THAT WHAT WAS
PREVIOUSLY FORECAST LAST SUMMER/FALL.
ANOTHER WINTER WITH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WAS RECORDED IN SOUTH
BEND WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 27.6 DEGREES; THE AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE WAS ONLY 0.7 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AND WAS THE COLDEST
WINTER SINCE 2021. THERE WERE NUMEROUS TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS
THROUGHOUT THE WINTER WITH SEVERAL SWINGS FROM MILD TO FRIGID
TEMPERATURES. WINTER BEGAN WITH THE COLDEST START TO DECEMBER IN
OVER A DECADE BEFORE TURNING COLDER IN MID JANAURY AND INTO
FEBRUARY. THERE WERE SEVERAL STRETCHES OF COLDER TEMPERATURES IN
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY WHICH WERE BOOKENDED BY MILD TEMPERATURES IN
THE 40S AND 50S. THE WARMEST DAY THIS WINTER WAS FEBRUARY 28TH WHEN
A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 59 DEGREES WAS OBSERVED. THE COLDEST DAY THIS
WINTER WAS JANUARY 21ST WHEN A LOW TEMPERATURE OF -5 DEGREES WAS
OBSERVED. THERE WERE 4 NIGHTS THIS WINTER WITH LOWS AT OR BELOW
ZERO. ALL IN ALL, WINTER 24-25 RANKS AS THE 51ST WARMEST WINTER ON
RECORD IN SOUTH BEND.
WINTER 24-25 STARTED OFF WITH MODERATE DROUGHT (LEVEL 1 OF 4) IN
SOUTH BEND, BUT DROUGHT GRADUALLY IMPROVED THROUGHOUT THE FIRST HALF
OF THE WINTER. PRECIPITATION WAS SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL IN DECEMBER,
BUT THEN WAS BELOW NORMAL IN JANUARY AND WELL BELOW NORMAL IN
FEBRUARY. THIS WINTER`S PRECIPITATION TOTAL OF 5.45 INCHES WAS 1.92
INCHES BELOW NORMAL AND WAS THE DRIEST WINTER SINCE 2015 IN SOUTH
BEND.
THERE WERE SEVERAL LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENTS THIS YEAR WITH TOTALS
OVER A FOOT TO THE NORTHWEST OF SOUTH BEND IN BERRIEN COUNTY, MI,
BUT LAKE EFFECT STRUGGLED TO PRODUCE INLAND. WHILE THEY HAD NUMEROUS
DAYS OF MEASURABLE SNOW, SOUTH BEND ONLY HAD TWO DAYS THIS WINTER
WITH SNOW TOTALS OVER 3 INCHES. THE HIGHEST SINGLE DAY SNOW TOTAL
THIS WINTER WAS 6.1 INCHES, WHICH OCCURRED ON DECEMBER 5TH. OVERALL,
SNOW AMOUNTED TO 34.8 INCHES THIS WINTER, WHICH IS 16.6 INCHES BELOW
NORMAL BUT INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, WAS MORE SNOW THAN IN WINTER 22-23
AND WINTER 23-24! OVERALL, WINTER 24-25 RANKS AS THE 38TH LEAST
SNOWY WINTER ON RECORD.
WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED MILD WEATHER IN DECEMBER AND EARLY JANAURY,
LAKE MICHIGAN TEMPERATURES STARTED OFF ABOVE NORMAL IN DECEMBER,
WHICH WERE CONDUCIVE FOR LAKE EFFECT SNOW. AFTER HISTORICALLY LOW
ICE COVER ON THE GREAT LAKES LAST WINTER, THIS YEAR WAS MUCH
DIFFERENT. THE WATERS OF LAKE MICHIGAN CLOSE TO SHORE QUICKLY BECAME
ICE COVERED SEVERAL TIMES IN JANAURY AND FEBRUARY AS TEMPERATURES
TURNED COLDER, WHICH ALSO LED TO A DECREASE IN LAKE EFFECT SNOW.
A MONTH BY MONTH SUMMARY IS BELOW:
DECEMBER 2024
...COLDEST START TO DECEMBER IN 14 YEARS GIVES WAY TO MILD MONTH
OVERALL...
WINTER ARRIVED QUICKLY IN THE FORM OF COLDER-THAN-NORMAL
TEMPERATURES TO START THE MONTH. THROUGH DECEMBER 7, THE AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 6.8 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL (26.2 DEGREES
OBSERVED), GOOD FOR THE COLDEST START TO METEOROLOGICAL WINTER SINCE
25.4 DEGREES IN 2010. THE LAKE MICHIGAN WATER TEMPERATURE WAS RIGHT
NEAR 40F AND SO LAKE EFFECT SNOW CAME BLASTING IN AS WELL WITH 6.1
INCHES OF SNOW MEASURED ON THE 5TH. THIS BEAT THE PREVIOUS DECEMBER
5TH RECORD OF 5.7 INCHES IN 1985. BY MONTH`S END, 8 INCHES OF SNOW
WAS RECORDED WHICH IS 5.7 INCHES BELOW NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 38TH
LEAST AMOUNT ON RECORD.
THE AFORMENTIONED COLD WAS NEARLY ERASED IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED
AS HIGH TEMPERATURES SOARED INTO THE MID-40S AND EVEN MID-50S. ON
THE 9TH, THE DAILY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 48 DEGREES WAS A WHOPPING
17 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. FIVE DAYS THIS MONTH REACHED A HIGH OF 50
DEGREES OR WARMER WHICH IS TWO LESS THAN DECEMBER 2023. ONE MORE
BRIEF COLD SNAP OCCURRED FROM THE 11TH THROUGH 13TH BEFORE A RETURN
TO VERY MILD TEMPERATURES. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS
32.9 DEGREES WHICH IS 3.3 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AND TIES AS THE 26TH
WARMEST ON RECORD (1974 AND 1940).
PRECIPITATION WAS FREQUENT THANKS TO A PROGRESSIVE JET STREAM AND
MILD LAKE MICHIGAN WATER TEMPERATURES. THE US DROUGHT MONITOR WAS
GENERALLY UNCHANGED IN OUR AREA THROUGH DECEMBER WITH ABOUT 34
PERCENT OF THE AREA EXPERIENCING "SEVERE DROUGHT" (LEVEL 2 OF 4),
WHILE ALL OF THE AREA WAS DEEMED AT LEAST UNDER A "MODERATE DROUGHT"
(LEVEL 1 OF 4). THE MONTH RECORDED 2.81 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION
WHICH IS 0.41 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL AND IS 51ST WETTEST ON RECORD.
JANUARY 2025
A SERIES OF ARCTIC COLD FRONTS PROMOTED WELL BELOW-NORMAL
TEMPERATURES AT TIMES THIS MONTH. THERE WERE THREE DISTINCT PERIODS
OF BELOW-NORMAL TEMPERATURES, WITH THE COLDEST OCCURRING FROM THE
19TH THROUGH 24TH WHEN DAILY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WERE AS MUCH AS 22
DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. THROUGH JANUARY 15TH, THE AVERAGE DAILY
TEMPERATURE OF 22.5 DEGREES RIVALS THAT OF 2022 (22.6 DEGREES) BUT
WAS OTHERWISE THE COLDEST START TO JANUARY SINCE 17.1 DEGREES IN
2018. THE MORNING LOW OF -5 ON THE MORNING OF THE 21ST WAS THE
COLDEST TEMPERATURE OF THE MONTH. THERE WERE THREE DAYS THIS MONTH
WITH A TEMPERATURE BELOW ZERO, COMPARED TO FIVE DAYS IN JANUARY
2024. IN CONTRAST, A RIDGE DEVELOPED OVER THE EASTERN US IN THE
FINAL DAYS OF JANUARY RESULTING IN A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 45 ON THE
28TH. THIS IS THE WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR JANUARY SINCE 60
DEGREES IN JANUARY 2023. ALL TOLD, THE MONTH`S AVERAGE TEMPERATURE
WAS 22.8 DEGREES AND RANKS AS THE 44TH COLDEST ON RECORD.
LAKE EFFECT SNOW WAS COMMON IN THE WAKE OF THESE ARCTIC COLD FRONTS.
THE GREATEST SINGLE-DAY TOTAL WAS 3.5 INCHES ON THE 23RD. THE
MONTH`S TOTAL OF 14.0 INCHES IS 7.6 INCHES BELOW NORMAL AND RANKS
WITHIN THE MIDDLE-THIRD OF THE 128-YEAR RECORD.
A SLOW-MOVING AREA OF LOW PRESSURE BROUGHT SOAKING RAIN TO PARTS OF
ILLINOIS AND FAR NORTHERN INDIANA TO END THE MONTH. PRECIPITATION
(RAIN AND MELTED SNOW) TOTALED 1.58 INCHES FOR THE MONTH. THIS WAS
1.08 INCHES BELOW NORMAL AND TIES AS THE 38TH LEAST AMOUNT OF
PRECIPITATION ON RECORD (1989).
FEBRUARY 2025
THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY FEATURED VERY COLD AIR MID-MONTH THAT WAS
BOOKENDED BY RELATIVELY WARM AIR AT THE START AND END OF THE MONTH.
THE WARMEST DAY OF THIS MONTH WAS FEBRUARY 28TH WHEN A HIGH
TEMPERATURE OF 59 DEGREES WAS REACHED. FEBRUARY 3RD HAD AN AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE DEPARTURE OF NEARLY 20 DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE. THE
COLDEST DAY OF THIS MONTH WAS FEBRUARY 18TH WHEN A LOW TEMPERATURE
OF 0 DEGREES WAS REACHED. THIS DAY HAD AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE
DEPARTURE OF 15.2 DEGREES BELOW AVERAGE. THE STRETCH OF DAYS FROM
FEBRUARY 4TH TO FEBRUARY 22ND, WHICH HAD HIGH TEMPERATURES BELOW 40
DEGREES, WAS THE SECOND LONGEST SUCH STRETCH ON RECORD IN FEBRUARY.
THIS PROLONGED STRETCH OF COLD AIR ALLOWED WINTER STORMS TO BRING
DOSES OF WINTRY MIX TO THE AREA. THERE WAS A RUN OF 9 CONSECUTIVE
DAYS WITH MEASUREABLE SNOWFALL FROM FEBRUARY 12TH TO FEBRUARY 20TH.
THIS HAS ONLY HAPPENED 28 TIMES IN SOUTH BEND`S PERIOD OF RECORD
SINCE 1893. FREEZING RAIN AND ICING CONCERNS WERE PLENTIFUL DURING
THIS TIME AS WELL. OVERALL, THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH
WAS 27.1 DEGREES, WHICH EXACTLY MATCHES THE USUAL AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE FOR FEBRUARY!
ONE NEW HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORD WAS SET THIS MONTH. THE HIGH ON
FEBRUARY 3RD OF 55 DEGREES TIED THE PREVIOUS RECORD SET IN 2020.
DESPITE BOUTS OF WINTRY WEATHER THIS MONTH, FEBRUARY`S TOTAL
SNOWFALL FINISHED BELOW NORMAL FOR THE MONTH. SOUTH BEND RECORDED
12.8 INCHES OF SNOW, WHICH IS 3.3 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. FOR SNOWFALL,
FEBRUARY 2025 RANKS AS THE 54TH SNOWIEST ON RECORD. TOTAL
PRECIPITATION FINISHED BELOW NORMAL AS WELL WITH ONLY 1.06 INCHES
MEASURED, WHICH IS 1.25 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. FOR TOTAL
PRECIPITATION, SOUTH BEND HAD THE 25TH DRIEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD.
BROWN/ROLLER/JOHNSON
$$