Click images for larger view. Left=radar, Right=plot of severe weather reports
August 24, 1998
I think there was some wind damage in town even though it's not officially reported. Despite being in school at the time, I got a glimpse outside and it looked nasty. It was very dark and windy, and the sky looked a little green. This line really clipped along... it looks like it's moving around 70 mph.
April 10, 1999
Half dollar (1.25" diameter) size hail occurred on the south side of Munster.
September 28, 1999
Golfball size hail in Lafayette, and a measured wind gust of 103 mph northwest of there! Also an F1 tornado occurred northeast of Lafayette.
May 8, 2000
I experienced approximately 70-75 mph winds from this line, although nobody officially reported severe weather in my town (I would have but I lost power and then when I regained it, I forgot...but I digress). Many branches were knocked down as well as a large tree down the street that nearly was toppled. Two airplanes were turned over at a nearby airport. I know the winds must have been that high because I've never had damage to trees like that before or since, and I've seen plenty of storms with winds of 50-60 mph. I actually heard the gust front coming at me from the west/southwest starting a couple minutes prior to its arrival, which was shortly before midnight.
May 18, 2000
Supercells across central Indiana. 4.5" diameter hail in Vermillion county Indiana, and 3" diameter hail about 15 miles south of Lafayette. Thanks to KeenerWx for producing this loop.
May 18, 2000
Besides the Lafayette area, farther up north there was also severe weather on this day. Nothing in the northern part of Lake county, but it was a tornado warned storm and funnel clouds were sighted nearby. This one is "special" to me because I was out right in the elements at the time. Note the line/bow head which seems to be rotating at times as it goes across Illinois and heads into far northern Indiana.
August 18, 2001
4" diameter hail in Benton county Indiana and 1.75" diameter hail in Lafayette (unfortunately only 1 radar image available)
August 25, 2001
Not much was expected to happen this day except for some isolated thunderstorms. But there was an F1 tornado to my southeast. Radar images from KLOT are suspiciously lacking, so KIWX was used instead. However I did retrieve a base velocity image from KLOT (shown below in the middle) and it clearly shows a red/green couplet in eastern Lake county. The tornado was in progress at that time.
May 30, 2003
No severe weather in my town but there was a brief tornado touchdown about 3 miles away. High shear/low CAPE day with CAPE generally AOB 1000 J/kg. Notice the cloud tops blowing well ahead of the storms toward the east/southeast. Storms weakened as they approached Indiana as loss of daytime heating occurred.
July 17, 2003
This was an interesting one. I believe these storms were assisted by a lake breeze but I don't recall for certain. These started out with many hail reports to the north, but then as the cell approached me it became more supercellular and went tornadic. If you look closely you can note a slight deviation to the right as it passes over my area... the other storms are moving SSE while this one plunges due south or perhaps a touch SW down the state line before resuming more of a SSE motion. I estimated winds of about 50-60 mph at my location. I also received hail but it was just below severe limits. However another part of town received 1" diameter hail and 70 mph winds, and there was also 2.1" of rain recorded in just 15 minutes. JUST over the Illinois state line, there was a microburst with winds estimated up to 90 mph.
If you look closely, you can see one scan where the base reflectivity reaches over 70 DBZ, near the 'M' in Munster.
August 3, 2004
This bow echo moved into Illinois in the early evening and made it to Indiana by late evening. I estimated about 60 mph winds at my house, and a spotter in my town reported 60 mph winds. My power flickered off but came on within a couple minutes.
