Purdue Univ. Has A Prediction For Spring Weather

There's a better chance of above average temperatures and precipitation this spring.

A cherry tree blooms at the Dearborn County Government Center in Lawrenceburg. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle Country 99.3.

(West Lafayette, Ind.) - An ongoing El Nino will have an impact on spring weather in Indiana.

Purdue University’s Climate Prediction Center says higher-than-average temperatures are “slightly predicted,” but “healthy chances” for above average precipitation will persist in April through June.

Meteorologists say the discrepancy is caused by the weakness of the El Nino and a very wet winter.

“Temperatures are hanging out in the Pacific just above the 0.5 degree Celsius cutoff. Effects of El Niño are most greatly experienced, thus predicted, on the West Coast and Southeastern portions of the United States. Indiana being a Midwestern state, this results in less confidence around this particular El Niño,” the Climate Prediction Center said.

The center expects Indiana will take time to dry out.

“Indiana is, and has been, rather wet this year. Posey County is about 5 inches of precipitation above their climatic normal. Marion County is 4 inches above. Steuben County is a little under an inch above.  All of the moisture from the Plains and Mississippi River Basin is currently channeled downstream to our soils, and soils take time to dry. Add to that the active weather pattern we have seen since January, with weekly low-pressure systems and corresponding frontal boundaries traveling across the nation, and we have conditions based on the recent past that suggest slightly higher temperatures, wetter conditions to continue through June.”

Meteorologists say the spring predictions could change with the jet stream up upper air flow return to a more east-west pattern.