INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The severe storm season got started early back in 2019, in fact during the month of February there was a report of a tornado near Decker in Knox County, an EF-0 tornado, with winds of 83 mph. Yes that is February, and yes we can have tornadoes in Indiana anytime of the year if the conditions are favorable.

The most active month last year was the month of May. We had severe weather on May 16, 19, 23, 26 and 27. All of those days central Indiana had reports of damaging winds, some large hail as well, and on Memorial Day, May 27, we had several tornadoes along with strong winds and some large hail. One of the more destructive storms in 2019 occurred in Pendleton. An EF-2 tornado with winds to 130 mph did significant damage to Falls Park and many homes surrounding the park. Two separate tornadoes touched down in Henry county, around Middletown where winds reached up to 110 mph. Another tornado struck not too far from Middletown in Henry County.

In addition to the severe weather, farmers can’t forget the large amounts of rain during the spring. Because of the wet start to the spring, the planting season started much later than usual. During the month of March last year the area received over five inches of rain. Almost five inches of rainfall fell in April, and over four inches were measured during May. We ended up with over 14 inches of rainfall, and that was about two inches above normal, and again, that’s why it took the farmers so long to get the seed into the ground.

How about this Spring? Of course nobody knows for sure, but the outlook by the National Weather Service for the months of March through May calls for near normal temperatures over the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, below normal up north, and above normal temperatures down to our south. Precipitation should be above normal during the spring season. So will we have a lot of severe weather? Only time will tell, but there is the potential for an active spring with rainfall expected to be above average.