Tropical Cyclone Remnants in Lafayette, IN

[Hoosier]

A while back I started a project to find all of the tropical systems/remnants that have affected Lafayette for the period that records are available here, which goes back to 1887.  I began by consulting HURDAT, the official tropical cyclone database, to identify systems that could have impacted Lafayette.  Then, I checked local weather records for dates on and especially after landfall to see if any rain occurred here. 

 

That sounds good in theory, but how do we know if the rain occurred with the tropical remnant or a separate weather system?  To try to figure that out, I reviewed weather maps for the days in question and some dates were able to be eliminated as they were clearly a result of another weather system.  Unfortunately, it's not always easy to determine what is from the remnant system and what isn't.  More on that below. 

 

So, what made the list?  Some cases were a no-brainer as the remnant tropical system was the only game in town.  Others were a bit of a challenge as remnant lows became absorbed/phased with other systems at various times and then there were some where it appeared that the remnant low moved by well to the south and didn't really become absorbed until just after clearing this area (meaning that the rain here was not really related to the remnant system).  A couple cases appeared to be a result of a new surface low that was spawned by the remnant low and those were not included.  The aforementioned HURDAT database also has some limitations in that identifiable surface lows/circulations often continue beyond the final datapoint for a given system, meaning that some systems that appear to terminate shortly after moving inland don't always do so.  As long as a remnant system had an identifiable surface low and the rain here was associated with that, I included it on the list.  In general, if a system didn't make the list, there was a good reason.

 

Anyway, here it is.  For simplicity, I combined the storms of October 1923 as they came one right after the other.  Rainfall amounts prior to 1944 came from the COOP with amounts from the airport used for years after that except whenever airport records were missing.  This list does not include systems of Pacific origin except for 2 storms which formed in the Pacific and then crossed into the Gulf.

 

 

[Hoosier]

Tracks from HURDAT.  Again keep in mind that some surface low tracks continued farther than shown.

 

 

 

 

 

somewhat closer look

 

 

[Hoosier]

Systems by month.  Systems that started in one month and continued into the next are counted according to the first month.

 

June:  9
July:  8
August:  12
September:  32
October:  18

[Stebo]

I am surprised you don't have Hurricane Opal on the list as LAF did pick up .58 on October 5th or are you considering the band that came through not associated with the remnants?

[Hoosier]

I am surprised you don't have Hurricane Opal on the list as LAF did pick up .58 on October 5th or are you considering the band that came through not associated with the remnants?

 

 

I'm assuming you got that 0.58" from Wunderground?  I've noticed that the precip amounts on there are wonky at times, at least for KLAF.  The source I'm using has nothing for that day.  Also I was able to check out radar for storms from the mid 1990s onward and it appears that LAF was missed to the east though not by much. 

 

This is about the farthest west that it was in relation to LAF

 

[Hoosier]

BTW, I really wish we had readily available radar for the older storms.  It would've made some of the questionable cases easier. 

[Stebo]

I'm assuming you got that 0.58" from Wunderground?  I've noticed that the precip amounts on there are wonky at times, at least for KLAF.  The source I'm using has nothing for that day.  Also I was able to check out radar for storms from the mid 1990s onward and it appears that LAF was missed to the east though not by much. 

 

This is about the farthest west that it was in relation to LAF

 

n0r_19951005_1730.png

Look earlier in the morning, there is a band that comes in from the SE around 4-6AM, or are you not going to consider it associated with Opal?

[Hoosier]

Look earlier in the morning, there is a band that comes in from the SE around 4-6AM, or are you not going to consider it associated with Opal?

 

 

I noticed that but it's very spotty and nothing officially fell at the airport.  That leads to an interesting point though and that is that it's possible that some of these fringe storms may have produced a T or very light amounts at the COOPs around here but not at the airport. 

 

Anyway, getting back to the list, a large number of them weren't all that exciting around here but there are some that evolved in an interesting way.  I'll probably post more about my favorites tomorrow.

[radionicist]

Very interesting, Hoosier, thanks for the post!

 

Was LAF unaffected by the remnants of TS Erin in 2007? It lead to the worst flooding here (Putnam County, Ohio) since 1913. We had nearly 13" of rainfall over a four day period, and over 7" in a single 24 hour period, 8/21 to 8/22.

[Hoosier]

Very interesting, Hoosier, thanks for the post!

 

Was LAF unaffected by the remnants of TS Erin in 2007? It lead to the worst flooding here (Putnam County, Ohio) since 1913. We had nearly 13" of rainfall over a four day period, and over 7" in a single 24 hour period, 8/21 to 8/22.

 

 

Hi there.

 

Erin was one of the questionable cases and it really came down to personal choice to leave it off.  Going with my guideline about having a recognizable surface low, Erin's surface low died out late afternoon/early evening of the 19th and virtually all of the rain here came just after that in association with a frontal boundary that was largely separate.  There was a very light amount around midday 19th that appeared like it may have been an offshoot of Erin's main area of moisture (which was still in Oklahoma) but it was a non-continuous area of precip.

 

My method is naturally going to underestimate the amount of times where any remnant moisture got involved whatsoever but it was done to eliminate times where, say, a remnant low fizzles in Texas and some of the moisture gets entrained into another system and it rains here like 3 days later.   

[Hoosier]

As mentioned, I will go through some of my favorite cases as time permits.  First up, September 1896.  I've put together some 4 panel charts to show how things unfolded.

 

At 12z September 29, 1896, we can see the hurricane lurking near Florida and a separate upper low in the Midwest/OV with associated surface trough. 

 

 

 

 

Larger surface map from 8 AM September 29

 

 

 

 

 

Late on the 29th and especially into the 30th, the hurricane remnants (remnants is understating it as it retained minimal hurricane strength all the way through Virginia, a long distance over land!) begin to phase with the Midwest system, eventually resulting in a deep elongated low in the Great Lakes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larger surface map from 8 AM September 30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A system with this track/evolution is questionable in terms of how much rain was from the tropical system this far west but I decided to include it in the end.

[Castaway]

Awesome

[Hoosier]

Galveston Hurricane remnants of September 1900

 

 

 

 

This was a very unique storm for the LAF area.  In fact I would say that September 11, 1900 is one of the more unique weather days on record.  Normally these remnant systems bring rain and maybe some wind to the area but in this case, only a trace of rain was recorded and wind was the big story.  Highs reached the low 90s with plenty of sun, which no doubt helped with momentum transfer to bring those strong winds aloft to the surface.  The observer that day noted "extreme wind" with 5 minute wind of 60 mph, 15 minute wind of 56 mph and 60 minute wind of 47 mph.  Converting this to gusts depends on various factors but given these values and other observers across the area noting damage to corn, massive amounts of fruit blown off of trees, trees downed, and some minor structural damage, my guess is that gusts may have reached the 70-80 mph range.  What happened here seems quite similar to what happened with the remnants of Ike in 2008, only farther north. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoosier]

June 28-29, 1902.  This is likely the wettest remnant system on record for Lafayette with over 4" of rain on the 28th and 29th.  There was a system hot on the heels of the remnant tropical low and some of the rain on the 29th may have been from that second low.

 

Although the system lost tropical characteristics around the OK/AR border, it retained tropical storm type winds on its trek through the Ohio Valley as shown by the orange color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoosier]

October 1916

 

 

 

This is going to be a bit of map overload but just wanted to show the differences between the surface maps depending on what source you use.  I did the 4 panel charts a bit differently this time by including 850 mb temperatures given that snow was involved.  The scale appears to be in kelvin despite the label of C so after doing the mental conversion, I went ahead and drew a white line to approximate the 850 mb 0C contour.

 

Morning surface maps from October 18, 1916.  There's already quite a bit of cold air lurking in the northern tier as you can see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning surface maps from October 19, 1916.  The landfalling category 2 hurricane has made steady northward progress and is centered in the southern IL/IN area after having become extratropical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning surface maps from October 20, 1916.  The surface low has deepened and is near southern Lake Michigan.  Notice the colder air wrapping around the southwest side of the low.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, 4 panel chart from 00z October 21

 

 

 

 

 

Although only a trace of snow was recorded at the COOP, other areas around here recorded a half inch to inch of snow.

[Chicago WX]

October 1916

 

Best tropical remnants ever.

 

How are you generating those 4 panel charts? 

[Hoosier]

Best tropical remnants ever.

 

How are you generating those 4 panel charts? 

 

 

Certainly was different than most.  The only other one I've found that produced snow in Indiana is the remnants of Sandy, but that occurred east of us.

 

I'm generating the maps one at a time and then putting them together.  Takes some time but I haven't found a simpler way.

[Chicago WX]

Certainly was different than most.  The only other one I've found that produced snow in Indiana is the remnants of Sandy, but that occurred east of us.

 

I'm generating the maps one at a time and then putting them together.  Takes some time but I haven't found a simpler way.

 

Ah, thanks. Job well done on this thread/topic, BTW.

[Hoosier]

Moving on to October 1923.  As shown on the list in the first post, this was a rare case of two storms affecting the area and based on the maps, there may not have been a break in the precipitation here.  The first map below depicts the tracks with the leftmost one being the first to make landfall.  These systems made landfall on the Gulf coast only about 42 hours apart.

 

 

 

 

Surface map on the morning of October 16, 1923

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surface map on the morning of October 17, 1923.  The low in Missouri is the remnant of the first system while the low on the Gulf coast apparently is not the second tropical system (still WELL south of Louisiana at the time)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surface map on the morning of October 18, 1923.  The second tropical system is located in the western KY/TN area after having been on the Mississippi coast about 12 hours earlier.  See that low off the east coast?  That is yet another tropical system that will later make landfall in New England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surface map on the morning of October 19, 1923.  The remnant surface low has moved toward Lake Huron while gaining some strength.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally I'd love to see another scenario like this sometime.  Can only imagine what kind of model solutions we would see with all of these things in play.