Wednesday, December 31, 2008

We Say Goodbye to 2008: When Storms Ruled the Hoosier State


This past year will be remembered as one of Lafayette's stormiest on record. This picture sums up 2008. Wolcott and the rest of us were certainly swamped! I was just compiling the total yearly precipitation and while we did not set a new record for precipitation like they did in St. Louis and Chicago we were not that far off! We will certainly remember the historic floods that hit the Tippecanoe River and the areas from Newton County through Monticello, Monon, and Logansport.

Monon was turned into a lake with a winter's worth of precipitation in only 10 hours combined with melting down six inches of snow. The northern watershed of the Wabash melted down about 20 inches of snow almost overnight. This brought crests of 20 to 25 feet above flood stage and disaster as folks were rescued from rooftops. It was reminiscent of some of the scenes that we saw from the flooding after Katrina hit New Orleans. Hundreds were displaced and many lost their homes forever.

The good news is that 2008 is going out on a quiet note with great travel weather. The wind gusts of 40 mph at WLFI last night will diminish to near 10 mph by late today with light winds tonight. Here is your Kokomo Ball Drop New Year's Eve forecast! I will have more on this coming up today. Happy New Year!! I think tonight will be a great night to take in that great event while listening to some music and drinking a cup of hot chocolate. The picture above is from the technokats who help make the ball drop a success every year! They are a robotics and tech team that competes in (FIRST) For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. They do a lot to motivate and inspire high school students to get interested and involved in science and technology. I am motivated that is for sure! Bring on 2009! Every year in Indiana is always fun and interesting when it comes to the weather. Tonight we will take a look at just how stormy we really were here in Indiana and if our temperatures actually ended up below average in the world's coolest year since 2000. See you soon!


15 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE EVERYONE..2009
Where does time go????

Anonymous said...

Happy New Yrs WLFI and Bloggers! Wishing all a wonderful 2009 (the economy and especially a mild yr in weather)...

Ricard

Anonymous said...

WLFI your link on your weather box is not working, It says click here, but it is not linked. Only at the top of the page. Not a big deal, but wanted to let you guys know.

Anonymous said...

Hey Happy Almost New year everybody!!!!!

Here is to a GREAT !!2009!!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

Early Happy New Year to all!!

We are playing it safe and staying home, watch a movie, then wait for the ball to drop! 2009 WOW!

Dont forget to eat your cabbage tomorrow:)

Teri

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike and bloggers! Spending a quiet NYE at home with the corned beef cooking in the crockpot for tomorrow with cabbage and the works.

Mike, that pic of Wolcott just sends a shiver through me. When I turned in my CoCoRaHS report this morning I mentioned I hoped 2009 was a much more calm wx scene. While on the subject of the flooding last Jan I would like to post that DANI (Disaster Assistance of Indiana) is having THREE services in this area next Thur Jan 8th which is the first anniv. of the monster flood. One here in Remington at First Christian Church (dinner and mem service) one in Delphi and one in Monticello. I think it is great they are doing this to maybe put closure to the events.

I am winding down for the evening. Will be asleep long before the ball drops. have you seen temps in Times Square??? OMGoodness! sustained winds of 20 mph making a wind chill near zero! Glad I am not there for more than one reason!

Mary Anne in Remington

Anonymous said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

TO ALL BLOGGERS AND EVERYBODY!!!!!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I think I will be up for awhile, fireworks like crazy..now my dogs are barking at those instead of the wind LOL!

Teri in Laf

Anonymous said...

i had to work and i thought i heard some fireworks...Happy New Year.
renee in laf

Katie said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all! Missed the ball drop but that is par for the course for me, stayed at home with my dog and just chilled.

Anonymous said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!

I just sucked down a raw egg and tomato juice. Joking!

I was asleep be for midnight but woke up just in time to see the ball fall. Really cold there but no one seemed to mind, alot of body heat!

Looks like rain on its way tonight, then fall below freezing.
Windy out there right now:(

Hope all are doing well on this new year morning.

Renee, I did the same stayed home with my dog and chilled, was nice.

Anonymous said...

Sorry I meant Katie! But Renee too bad you had to work!

Anonymous said...

Happy 2009 everyone!

Going to families to have dinner, corned beef and cabbage and potatoes, gross!
But my mother alway told me, "you have to eat cabbage on New years day so you will have money for the rest of the year"...maybe that is why I am so poor, missed out on cabbage last year, and the year before and the year before, wonder if cole slaw would count? LOL!

Have a great day everyone!

Teri

Katie said...

Teri, I agree with you but cole slaw doesn't work! I am still poor and I ate that last year

Anonymous said...

What is with more rain coming our way. Wow, I feel like we have been in the longest fall season of all time.

I almost feel like, the holidays are gone, and now it can warm back up.