For Hoosiers in Central Indiana under the ages of 15-20, at the time, this was a weather event they had never experienced. For those old enough, this power house winter storm brought back memories of the good ole winters of the late 70s and early 80s.
On Sunday January 5th, 2014 a strengthening, moisture-laden low pressure system interacted with southward plunging Arctic cold front. The combination delivered a swath of heavy snowfall in Central and Northern Indiana and Indianapolis' second snowiest calendar day on record. The 11.4" snow that day is one of only six days on record with double-digit snowfall in the city and was the heaviest daily snow since the Blizzard of 1978.
What made this event even more notable was the bitterly cold air that followed.... the coldest air Hoosiers had felt since 1994. Temperatures got as low as -15 in Indianapolis and stayed below zero a whopping 34 straight hours. Wind chills were legitimately dangerous and hovered in the -30 to -40 range for 30 straight hours. This actually falls behind several other historical Arctic air outbreaks in Central Indiana according the graph below provided by National Weather Service Indianapolis. (NWS Indy did a great post-storm analysis you should give a click here.
Nonetheless these extreme conditions forced then Indianapolis Mayor Ballard to declare a travel ban in the city for two straight days.
My drive to work the morning after on January 6th was strikingly eerie and beautiful. I remember there being no cars and hardly any people outside. I literally stopped in the middle of Meridian Street to snap pictures for documentation of the barren city under the grips of a bitter cold punch. It truly was dumbfounding.
The Arctic air and deep snow pack created several sightings of sun dogs, stuck snow plows, and one picture a viewer titled "sn-ocean" due the rolling drifts. Another vivid memory of mine was seeing just one runway open at the Indianapolis International Airport two days after the first flake. My family and I were lucky enough to be on one of a handful of flights to make it out on January 7th. Seeing the snow plow beginning to clear a new runway and the sea of white from above are images that remain fresh.
A storm for the ages no doubt and who knows when we'll see another like it.
