CXUS53 KIWX 011535 CLSSBN CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 1035 AM EST SUN MAR 01 2026 ................................... ...THE SOUTH BEND CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE SEASON, FROM 12/1/2025 TO 2/28/2026... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1991 TO 2020 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1893 TO 2026 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR'S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE NORMAL .............................................................. TEMPERATURE (F) RECORD HIGH 74 02/25/2000 LOW -22 01/20/1943 01/25/1897 HIGHEST 65 02/18 MM MM 59 LOWEST -10 02/01 MM MM -5 AVG. MAXIMUM 34.1 34.1 0.0 34.4 AVG. MINIMUM 18.2 19.7 -1.5 20.8 MEAN 26.1 26.9 -0.8 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 45 38.7 6.3 42 DAYS MIN <= 32 78 77.5 0.5 78 DAYS MIN <= 0 6 5.6 0.4 4 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 13.35 1950 MINIMUM 2.77 1945 TOTALS 6.67 7.37 -0.70 5.45 DAILY AVG. 0.07 0.08 -0.01 0.06 DAYS >= .01 47 44.1 2.9 46 DAYS >= .10 20 18.8 1.2 14 DAYS >= .50 1 3.5 -2.5 2 DAYS >= 1.00 1 1.0 0.0 1 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 1.90 SNOWFALL (INCHES) RECORDS TOTAL 136.3 1978 24 HR TOTAL 11.8 12/25/2020 TO 12/25/2020 TOTALS 64.0 51.4 12.6 35.2 SINCE 7/1 91.1 56.7 34.4 37.7 SNOWDEPTH AVG. 4 1 DAYS >= TRACE 32 31.8 0.2 40 DAYS >= 1.0 12 16.3 -4.3 12 GREATEST SNOW DEPTH 17R 01/15 5 24 HR TOTAL 12.6R 01/14 TO 01/14 DEGREE DAYS HEATING TOTAL 3487 3425 62 3341 SINCE 7/1 4613 4734 -121 4222 COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0 SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 0 .............................................................. WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 10.4 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 36/250 DATE 01/09 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 55/240 DATE 01/09 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.65 NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 21 NUMBER OF DAYS PC 28 NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 41 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 76 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 3 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 3 RAIN 4 LIGHT RAIN 13 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 2 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 9 SNOW 20 LIGHT SNOW 46 SLEET 0 FOG 65 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 13 HAZE 46 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. && ...COLDER THAN NORMAL WITH ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL FOR WINTER 25/26... THIS WINTER'S WEAK LA NINA DELIVERED, WITH COLDER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES, ABOVE AVERAGE SNOWFALL, AND SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION. WINTER BEGAN WITH A WEAK LA NINA PATTERN, WHICH GRADUALLY SHIFTED TOWARDS ENSO NEUTRAL BY THE END OF THE SEASON. WINTER 25/26 WAS CHARACTERIZED BY PROLONGED PERIODS OF COLDER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES, MOSTLY NOTABLY AT THE START OF DECEMBER AND AGAIN FROM MID JANUARY THROUGH EARLY FEBRUARY. THERE WERE ALSO SEVERAL QUICK SWINGS FROM FRIGID TO MILD TEMPERATURES; DECEMBER 28TH, JANUARY 9TH, AND FEBRUARY 19TH ALL SAW NEAR RECORD TEMPERATURES IN THE LOW TO MID 60S! DESPITE THE OCCASIONAL WARM DAY, ALL 3 WINTER MONTHS HAD AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE BELOW NORMAL. THE WARMEST AND COLDEST TEMPERATURES OF THE WINTER OCCCURRED ABOUT 2.5 WEEKS APART WITH A LOW OF -10 ON FEBRUARY 1ST AND A HIGH OF 65 ON FEBRUARY 18TH. THERE WERE 5 NIGHTS WITH A TEMPERATURE BELOW FREEZING THIS WINTER. OVERALL, WINTER 25/26 FINISHED WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 26.1 DEGREES, WHICH WAS 0.8 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 2ND CONSECUTIVE COLDER THAN NORMAL WINTER IN SOUTH BEND AND THE COLDEST SINCE 2018. WINTER 25/26 RANKS AS THE 45TH COLDEST WINTER SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1893. SNOW STEADILY PILED UP THROUGHOUT THE WINTER WITH SEVERAL SYNOPTIC (SYSTEM) AND NUMEROUS LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENTS. THERE WERE 15 DAYS THIS WINTER WITH MEASURABLE SNOWFALL OVER AN INCH. IT HAD BEEN OVER A DECADE SINCE A FOOT OF SNOW FELL IN ONE DAY WHEN A DAILY RECORD OF 12.6" OF SNOW FELL DURING A LAKE EFFECT EVENT ON JANUARY 14TH. THIS WAS THE LARGEST ONE DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL IN SOUTH BEND SINCE 14.7" FELL ON FEBRUARY 1, 2015! THE DAY AFTER, JANUARY 15TH, SOUTH BEND ALSO RECORDED A RECORD DAILY SNOW DEPTH OF 17"! THIS WAS THE LARGEST SNOW DEPTH SINCE 18" WAS ON THE GROUND ON JANUARY 9, 2011! OVERALL, THE WINTER SEASONAL SNOWFALL WAS 64.0", WHICH IS 12.6 ABOVE NORMAL. THERE HAS BEEN A NOTABLE LACK OF SNOW IN RECENT YEARS, WITH THIS WINTER BEING THE FIRST WITH ABOVE AVERAGE SNOWFALL SINCE 2018! WINTER 25/26 RANKS AS THE 19TH SNOWIEST WINTER ON RECORD. LAKE EFFECT SNOW IS OFTEN LIGHT AND FLUFFY, WHICH LACKS WATER CONTENT. HOWEVER, WITH THE ABOVE NORMAL SNOWFALL THIS WINTER, PRECIPITATION (RAIN + LIQUID EQUIVALENT OF MELTED SNOW) ENDED UP JUST SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL FOR THE SEASON. DECEMBER HAD ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION WHILE JANUARY AND FEBRUARY BOTH TRENDED DRIER THAN USUAL. SEVERAL AFOREMENTIONED MILD DAYS ALSO BROUGHT SCATTERED RAIN AND EVEN THUNDERSTORMS AT TIMES THIS WINTER. THE LARGEST ONE DAY RAINFALL TOTAL WAS WHEN 1.90" FELL ON DECEMBER 28TH DUE TO MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF RAIN AND STORMS THAT PASSED THROUGH SOUTH BEND. THIS WINTER'S OVERALL PRECIPITATIO TOTAL OF 6.67" WAS 0.70" BELOW NORMAL. A MONTH BY MONTH SUMMARY IS BELOW: DECEMBER 2025 ...COLDER THAN USUAL DECEMBER WITH HIGHLY VARIABLE PRECIPITATION... THANKS TO A EARLY SEASON WINTER STORM AFTER THANKSGIVING, DECEMBER BEGAN MUCH COLDER AND SNOWIER THAN USUAL. SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW WAS ON THE GROUND TO BEGIN THE MONTH, WHICH KEPT TEMPERATURES MUCH COLDER THAN NORMAL (ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT). WHAT IS NOTABLE ABOUT THE COLD AIR THIS DECEMBER WAS HOW PROLONGED IT WAS. FOR THE FIRST HALF OF DECEMBER, HIGHS WERE COMMONLY IN THE 20S AND 30S AND LOWS WERE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS AND TEENS. AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FOR 15 OF THE FIRST 16 DAYS OF DECEMBER WERE BELOW NORMAL, WITH A FEW DAYS EVEN HAVING A 15+ DEGREE DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL! THERE WERE 14 DAYS THIS MONTH WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 32 DEGREES. ONE NEW DAILY RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE WAS SET THIS MONTH; THE LOW TEMPERATURE ON THE MORNING ON DECEMBER 5TH OF 2 DEGREES BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 4 DEGREES SET BACK IN 1899! THE COLDEST LOW TEMPERATURE OF THE MONTH OF 1 DEGREE OCCURRED ON DECEMBER 15TH. THE SECOND HALF OF DECEMBER FEATURED MOSTLY NEAR TO ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES DUE TO A SERIES OF WARM FRONTAL PASSAGES. THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE OBSERVED THIS MONTH WAS ON DECEMBER 28TH WHEN THE HIGH REACHED 64 DEGREES! THE 28TH WAS AN ANOMALOUSLY WARM DAY (TWO DEGREES SHY OF A RECORD HIGH) WHEN TEMPERATURES SURGED INTO THE LOW TO MID 60S ACROSS THE AREA AHEAD OF A STRONG COLD FRONT. DEWPOINTS ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 28TH ALSO PEAKED AT 61 DEGREES IN SOUTH BEND, WHICH IS THE LATEST OCCURRENCE IN THE CALENDAR YEAR OF A DEWPOINT AT OR ABOVE 60 DEGREES! ONCE THE COLD FRONT MOVED THROUGH ON THE EVENING OF THE 28TH, TEMPERATURES PLUMMETED FROM THE MID 60S TO THE MID TEENS IN 18 HOURS! THIS WAS QUITE A RARE PHENOMENON TO OCCUR IN DECEMBER; THIS SHARP TEMPERATURE SHIFT IS MORE REMINISCENT OF EARLY FALL OR LATE SPRING NOT DECEMBER! OVERALL, DECEMBER WAS COLDER THAN NORMAL WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 27.2 DEGREES. THIS IS 2.4 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 46TH COLDEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. THIS WAS THE COLDEST DECEMBER SINCE 2017. SEVERAL CLIPPER SYSTEMS AND LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENTS IMPACTED THE AREA, BRINGING LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW AMOUNTS THAT REALLY ADDED UP OVER THE COURSE OF THE MONTH. TWO CLIPPER SYSTEMS AT THE VERY END OF THE MONTH HELPED BOOST THE MONTHLY SNOW TOTAL TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL FOR DECEMBER. THE SNOWIEST DAY THIS MONTH WAS DECEMBER 7TH WHEN 2.7" FELL. TO GIVE SOME PERSPECTIVE ON JUST HOW MUCH LACK OF SNOWFALL THERE HAS BEEN IN THE PAST DECADE, THIS DAILY AMOUNT IS MORE THAN THE TOTAL DECEMBER SNOWFALL THAT FELL IN 2018, 2021, AND 2023. OVERALL, THE MONTH FINISHED WITH 10.0 INCHES OF SNOW, WHICH IS 3.7 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS DECEMBER WAS THE 53RD LEAST SNOWY ON RECORD. DESPITE THE MONTHLY TOTAL BEING BELOW AVERAGE, THIS WAS THE SNOWIEST DECEMBER SINCE 15.4" FELL IN 2020. THE OVERALL MONTHLY PRECIPITATION AMOUNT (LIQUID SNOW EQUIVALENT + RAIN) WAS WELL ABOVE NORMAL THANKS TO HEAVY RAINFALL THAT OCCURRED IN TWO ROUNDS ON DECEMBER 28TH. OVER HALF OF THE MONTH'S PRECIPITATION FELL AS RAIN IN A SINGLE DAY! MORNING WIDESPREAD RAIN SHOWERS IN SOUTH BEND GAVE WAY TO A SEVERE RISK IN THE AFTERNOON AHEAD OF A STRONG COLD FRONT! HEAVY RAIN AND EVEN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS BROUGHT A WHOPPING 1.90" OF RAIN IN 24 HOURS AT THE SOUTH BEND AIRPORT! NOT ONLY WAS THIS A DAILY RECORD (PREVIOUS: 1.45" IN 2015), BUT DECEMBER 28TH ALSO SET THE HIGHEST DAILY PRECIPITATION TOTAL FOR ALL OF 2025 IN SOUTH BEND! IT IS ALSO THE HIGHEST SINGLE DAY TOTAL IN SOUTH BEND SINCE 4.30" OF RAIN FELL ON JUNE 26, 2021! BEFORE THE RAINFALL ON THE 28TH, THE MONTH WAS TRENDING WELL BELOW NORMAL FOR PRECIPITATION AS MUCH OF THE SNOW THAT FELL IN DECEMBER WAS OF THE LIGHTER, FLUFFIER TYPE, WHICH LED TO DRIER SNOW RATIOS. OVERALL, THANKS TO RECORD RAINFALL ON THE 28TH, THE MONTH FINISHED WITH 3.22 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION, WHICH IS 0.82 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 45TH WETTEST DECEMBER ON RECORD AND THE WETTEST SINCE 2021. JANUARY 2026 ...8TH SNOWIEST JANUARY ON RECORD... RECENT MEMORY WILL FIXATE ON THE ARCTIC CHILL THAT DESCENDED OVER THE MIDWEST DURING THE FINAL TWO WEEKS OF JANUARY. HOWEVER, RECALL THE MILD STRETCH THAT OCCURRED FROM THE 4TH THROUGH 14TH FEATURING HIGHS IN THE 40S AND EVEN TWO DAYS IN THE 60S. AS MILD AIR WAS DISPLACED, 12.6 INCHES OF SNOW WAS RECORDED ON THE 14TH AND NUMEROUS CLIPPERS AND BOUTS OF LAKE EFFECT SNOW FOLLOWED. ONE TEMPERATURE RECORD WAS ABSOLUTELY SHATTERED DURING THE AFORMENTIONED MILD STRETCH. THE HIGH OF 62 DEGREES ON JANUARY 9TH BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 51 SET IN 2020. THE PRECEDING DAY'S HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 60 NEARLY REACHED THE RECORD OF 61 SET IN 1965. THROUGH THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF JANUARY, THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 8.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL (AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 33). IT WAS NOT UNTIL JANUARY 26 THAT THIS DEPARTURE WAS ERASED AND THE MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 0.3 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. JANUARY ENDED WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 21.5 DEGREES WHICH WAS 2.6 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 36TH COLDEST ON RECORD. SNOW CONTINUED TO PILE UP WITH A MONTHLY TOTAL OF 38.6 INCHES. THIS IS 17 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 8TH MOST FOR JANUARY AND THIS IS THE MOST SINCE 46.6 INCHES FELL IN JANUARY 2014. THROUGH JULY 1, THIS YEAR'S SNOW TOTAL NOW STANDS AT 75.7 INCHES, WHICH IS 35.1 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS IS THE MOST SINCE 78.7 INCHES ENDING JANUARY 31, 2011. THIS RANKS AS THE 6TH MOST ON RECORD. STRICTLY SPEAKING, SINCE DECEMBER 1, THE SNOW TOTAL STANDS AT 48.6 INCHES WHICH IS 13.3 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE MOST SINCE 2017-2018 (54.4 INCHES) AND TIES 1966-1967 AS THE 15TH MOST ON RECORD. A NEW DAILY RECORD SNOWFALL WAS SET ON THE 12TH WHEN 12.6 INCHES WAS RECORDED, BREAKING THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 6.0 INCHES IN 1985. CHARACTERISTIC OF CLIPPERS AND LAKE EFFECT SNOW WHICH PRODUCE DRY, FLUFFY SNOW, PRECIPITATION WAS ONLY 2.02 INCHES FOR THE MONTH. THIS IS 0.64 INCHES BELOW NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 60TH DRIEST ON RECORD. FEBRUARY 2026 ...AN OVERALL WARM AND DRY FEBRUARY... DESPITE SEVERAL RECENT WEEKS OF NEAR NORMAL TO ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES, FEBRUARY BEGAN ON A MUCH COLDER AND SNOWIER NOTE. A RECORD COLD LOW OF -10 DEGREES OCCURRED ON THE VERY FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH. PERSISTENT SNOWPACK ALLOWED FOR SEVERAL COLD NIGHTS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS BELOW ZERO AND HIGHS ONLY IN THE LOW 20S TO FOLLOW. THINGS QUICKLY TURNED AROUND AS TEMPERATURES WARMED AND THE SNOWPACK MELTED BY MID MONTH SEVERAL DAYS OF 50S AND EVEN A DAY IN THE 60S WERE OBSERVED; FEBRUARY 18TH WAS THE WARMEST DAY OF THE MONTH WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 65 DEGREES, WHICH WAS ONE DEGREE SHY OF TYING THE DAILY RECORD. DESPITE THE FRIGID START, THE MONTH FINISHED WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 29.8 DEGREES, WHICH WAS 2.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS WAS THE 46TH WARMEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD. WITH THE COLD TEMPERATURES, SNOW THAT FELL IN LATE JANUARY REMAINED ON THE GROUND THROUGH MID FEBRUARY. SOUTH BEND HAD A SNOWPACK OF ANYWHERE BETWEN 4-12" FROM JANUARY 15TH TO FEBRUARY 13TH. AFTER SEVERAL MILD WINTERS IN RECENT YEARS, THIS WAS CERTAINLY ONE OF THE LONGER DURATION SNOWPACKS IN RECENT MEMORY. THERE WERE ONLY 6 DAYS OF MEASURABLE SNOWFALL THIS FEBRUARY. MUCH OF THE SNOW FELL ON JUST 2 DAYS; 4.8" OF SYNOPTIC (SYSTEM) SNOW FELL ON THE 6TH AND A LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENT BROUGHT ANOTHER 5.9" ON THE 22ND. OVERALL, 15.4" OF SNOW FELL IN FEBRUARY. THIS WAS 0.7" BELOW NORMAL, BUT WAS THE MOST SNOW IN FEBRUARY IN SOUTH BEND SINCE 2022. UNSURPRISINGLY, THE SNOWFALL DEFICIT ALSO LED TO A LACK OF PRECIPITATION (RAIN + LIQUID EQUIVALENT OF MELTED SNOW) THROUGHOUT FEBRUARY. MUCH OF THE SNOW THAT DID FALL WAS LIGHT AND FLUFFY, WHICH WAS LACKING IN WATER CONTENT. WITH THE WARM UP MID MONTH, THERE WERE SEVERAL ROUNDS OF SCATTERED RAIN AND EVEN SOME EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS ON FEBRUARY 19TH. FEBRUARY FINISHED WITH 1.43" OF PRECIPITATION, WHICH IS 0.88" BELOW NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 43RD DRIEST FEBRUARY ON RECORD. BROWN/JOHNSON $$