Thunderstorms with Heavy Downpours, Lightning, & Hail Move Our Way

You can see some of the beautiful towering cumulus clouds around the area. The good news is the morning and early afternoon rain and thunderstorms has stabilized our atmosphere enough so that we will not have to worry about any rain for the Taste of Tippecanoe! Get out and enjoy. I will see you there.

Update as of 4:30 p.m.

We have the all clear! I am heading out to the Taste of Tippecanoe and will post some pictures for you. A big thanks to Brian Wolfe for holding down the fort for the rest of today and this evening and for helping with all the severe weather crawls this afternoon. Remember we are still going to be tracking a cell with possible small hail and dangerous lightning over Fountain and Montgomery Counties. But it will not be moving into Tippecanoe. It will track southeast at about 30 mph. See ya at the Taste!


Update as of 2:21 p.m.

Still cannot give the all clear for our area and a severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 7 p.m. There is an unstable air mass that is taking shape in Central Illinois in the sunshine. This means we could still see a second line of storms form in Illinois and it will likely move into our area between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. right along the rain-cooled boundary from this morning and early afternoon. The main threats will be lightning and large hail.



Update as of 1:10 p.m.

The main line of storms is dying out now as it moves closer to Tippecanoe County....the concern is that a strong second line of storms will re-fire by mid to late afternoon along the thunderstorm cooled boundary from this morning. Since this line did not make it all the way through the Lafayette area we will even have to watch things closely late this afternoon and early evening.

As of now....
News Channel 18 Weather Alert: A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR FULTON AND PULASKI COUNTIES UNTIL 2 P.M. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR JASPER AND MIAMI COUNTIES UNTIL 1:45 P.M. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR NEWTON AND CASS COUNTIES UNTIL 1:15 P.M. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE HEAVY DOWNPOURS, LIGHTNING, AND LARGE HAIL. ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH ARE ALSO POSSIBLE, ESPECIALLY FROM CENTRAL JASPER COUNTY NORTHWARD. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR MONTGOMERY, TIPPECANOE, CARROLL, CASS, FULTON, MIAMI, HOWARD, AND CLINTON COUNTIES UNTIL 7 P.M.



Update at of 12:45 p.m.

We have had two reports of nickel size hail near Rensselaer so far and another round of nickel to quarter size hail on the way. Areas from Rensselaer northward have the highest risk of seeing hail at this time. In addition, lightning tracker is picking up over 1,000 lightning strikes in the past 2 hours and another round of lightning is moving in from Illinois. I know there are a lot of folks camping and at Indiana Beach. You will have to remember to get indoors or to a sturdy structure when the thunder roars. Baseball umpires should not wait until it starts raining to call a rain delay. All fields should be cleared at the instant you see lightning or hear thunder. Things should start improving around the area after 4 p.m.


Update as of Noon...we have severe thunderstorm warnings for northern White and Jasper Counties. The main threats will be lightning and quarter-size hail. Since we have had a couple warnings due to hail the Storm Prediction Center has put a good portion of our area in a severe thunderstorm watch until 7 p.m. but I do think most of the activity should be between now and 4 p.m. I will check back.


Good Saturday morning....we do have some scattered thunderstorms moving through the area....with large hail as the main threat....we can then get on with all our big plans by later this afternoon and evening...so the sooner the rain....the better for our cookout plans tonight. I will check back with you in case anything changes. Have a great weekend!