Posted in Indiana December 22, 2020 by

A Ferocious Winter Storm Hit Indiana 16 Years Ago This Week

Every Hoosier knows that Indiana has seen its fair share of nasty winter weather, but sometimes, some winters are rougher than others. Sixteen years ago this week (on December 21st, to be exact), a record-setting snowstorm took the entire Midwest and froze it to its core.

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The incredible snowfall event was set in motion when a frigid cold front moved through the area and caused a relatively short (less than 12-hour) episode of sometimes-heavy snow.
National Weather Service Indianapolis
Sleet and freezing rain followed the cold front, coating parts of Indiana, Ohio, and other states in a layer of ice in the hours after its initial passage.
Early on the morning of December 22nd, 2004, a surface cyclone wandered up from the Texas coast and traveled north over the coming days, ensuring that many parts of the entire Midwest were about to be under two or more feet of snow just after the passage of the front.
National Weather Service Indianapolis
Subsequently, records were set all over Indiana between December 22nd and 24th, including some pretty impressive snowfall totals and one incredible temperature low.
Some towns received an incredible 30 or more inches of snow in a relatively short window of time.
Angela Crecelius/National Weather Service Indianapolis
For example, Brownstone, IN saw 30 inches of snow. Crothersville, IN saw 37 inches of snow, and Medora, IN, received an insane 39 inches of snow during this event.
Many structures in Indiana and other midwestern states collapsed due to the sheer weight of the snow and ice that covered absolutely everything.
Steve Townsend/National Weather Service Indianapolis
Some homes saw their roofs cave in, and there were numerous car accidents as a direct result of the snowstorm throughout the region. In total, five Hoosiers lost their lives in this storm.
Below is a sample of what's called a surface temperature analysis, showing the bitter cold across the state on the morning of December 25th, 2004.
Weather.gov
Incredibly, the temperature in Scottsburg, Indiana, plummeted to -19 degrees Fahrenheit that morning after the storm had, for the most part, moved on. Frigid temperatures remained, however, for days following this historic winter event.
The I-64 was closed for three days following the snowstorm, and no doubt another storm of this magnitude would bring life as we know it to a freezing, grinding halt.
Analogue Kid/Wikimedia

It isn’t yet known what this winter holds for Indiana, but hopefully, we won’t be seeing any storms like this one again for a very long time. Where were you during the incredible snowstorm of 2004? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

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