[AT] Ice storms - Nasty strip across Indiana

[Francis Robinson]

    So far this year it has not been anything like OK or MO but I have 
always been amazed at the "strips" of climate differences across this state. 
I live about 25 miles south east of Indy on what I often describe as "the 
edge of the prairie". The lower edge of the great glacier wandered along a 
line around 20 to 40 miles south of me. I don't claim to understand all of 
the differences I observe. Indiana is not a large state but is much longer 
north to south than east to west. There is a "strip" across the north edge 
of the state that has a "LOT" of lake effect snow from Lake Michigan. Just 
below that is what I refer to as "the nasty strip" of the state. It runs 
across about along a line through Lafayette / Crawfordsville on through Peru 
/ Kokomo and on across through Portland / Winchester. As I have watched the 
various weather systems over the years I am always glad that my ancestors 
stopped here instead of up there. We have strong storms, tornados, snows and 
ice storms here but nothing like those poor folks do. It is just a terribly 
unstable streak across the state. Ice storms in particular seem many times 
more frequent there and power outages are much more frequent. From Indy 
south along a line about even with I-70 the weather is much less radical. I 
suppose that nasty streak extends on across northern Ohio and PA...
    There is another invisible line across about 20 miles south of me isn't 
so extreme but for some reason in just that short difference the crops below 
that line are always 10 to 14 days ahead of crops here. To get that much 
additional change you almost have to get south into Kentucky or at least the 
Ohio river valley.
    We are thinking about you folks in the OK area H.L. The pictures we are 
seeing on the news look pretty scary...



--
"farmer"

When you reach the end of your rope
 tie a knot and hang on...

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net