The Uniqueness Of Northern Indiana

As the lake effect snow event in northern Indiana begins to wind down (totals of 10+" have been reported), it got me thinking about how much variety of weather that area of the state experiences.  Granted, the entire state experiences quite a variety of weather conditions throughout the year, but the lake effect snowbelt of northern Indiana takes it up a notch.

The first map above shows all tornadoes from 1950-2010 and the second map shows all F2 or greater tornadoes for the same time period.  I also threw in all 2"+ hail and 75+ mph wind reports, in green and blue respectively.  As you can see, there is a relatively high concentration of reports in the Indiana snowbelt.  Some areas downwind of Lake Erie have also experienced a decent amount of activity with other snowbelt regions well behind.  Population bias could be a factor in these results but it is my belief that the actual climate difference (northern Indiana is closest to tornado alley) is an overriding factor.

Other snowbelt regions certainly receive more snow than Indiana, but in terms of balance between snow and severe weather, there are few areas in the country and possibly the entire world that are on the level with northern Indiana.