Frequently Asked Questions

NWS Indianapolis Frequently Asked Questions

1. Past Weather Data. Where can I find?:
   • Certified data, e.g. to be used in legal proceedings
   • High Temperature, Low Temperature, Rainfall, Snowfall, Winds, etc. for Indianapolis
   • High Temperature, Low Temperature, Rainfall, Snowfall, Winds, etc.for other cities in Central Indiana besides Indianapolis
   • Climate data for cities outside Indiana
   • Severe Weather Reports (hail, tornados, etc)
2. Storm Spotter Training Questions
   • Do I need to preregister for training sessions?
   • About how long do the sessions last?
   • Do I have to live / be a spotter in the county that I take the training session?
   • What is my spotter ID or how do I get one?
3. Can I or my group take a tour of the NWS Indianapolis office?
   
    
4. Weather Radio Questions
   • What weather radio transmitter covers my county?
   • What codes do I need to program in for my weather radio?
   • What is the status of the weather radio transmitter that serves my area?
   • When can I test my weather radio?
   • What items are alerted on the weather radio?
5. Miscellaneous Questions
   • Where is tornado alley located?

Have a question not listed here? Contact us via email: nws.indianapolis@noaa.gov

Past Weather Data: Where Can I find?

1. Certified data to be used in legal proceedings:

• You must go to the National Centers for Environmental Information, https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/ to get the data.

2. High Temperature, Low Temperature, Rainfall, Snowfall, Highest winds, etc. for Indianapolis?

• Data back to 1996 for the Indianapolis International Airport can be found at https://weather.gov/ind/localcli Near the top of the page, choose the month and year you are interested in. That same page shows normal and records for Indianapolis.
• Additional information can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=ind

3. High Temperature, Low Temperature, Rainfall, Snowfall, Highest winds, etc. for other cities in Central Indiana besides Indianapolis?

• Data back to 5 years ago for several cities across Central Indiana can be found at https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=ind
  Choose “Preliminary Climatology Data (CF6), the location, then the time frame you want.
• Data from this month or last month from Cooperative Weather Stations (high, low, precipitation) is available at: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=ind
• Normals, Extremes, and more data for sites across Central Indiana are also available at https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=ind
• Additional data may be found at the Midwest Climate Data Center, https://mrcc.purdue.edu/

4. Climate data for locations outside of Indiana?

• Data for the Midwest can be found at the Midwest Climate Data Center, https://mrcc.purdue.edu/
• Data for any state as well as some locations outside the USA can be found at the National Centers for Environmental Information,
  https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/

5. Severe Weather reports (hail, wind, tornado) for past events?

• Data older than about 4 months ago can be found at: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/
• The Storm Data Publication from the National Climatic Data Center has severe weather events for the entire USA (through 2018).
• Archived severe weather reports from around the USA can be found at the Storm Prediction Center:
  http://www.spc.noaa.gov/archive/

Storm Spotter Questions

1. Do I need to preregister for the storm training sessions?

• No, unless the particular event says it is needed or it is a virtual/online session.  All you need to do is arrive at the proper location and time

2. About how long do the sessions last?

• Approximately 2 hours

3. Do I have to live / be a spotter in the county that I take the training session?

• No. The training sessions cover the same material at each location.

4. What is my spotter ID or how do I get one?

• We do not utilize spotter IDs at our office.  When you make your report, please identify that you are a trained spotter (assuming you attended training).

Tours

Can I, or my group, take a tour of the NWS office?

• Yes. Please contact us via our office e-mail address, nws.indianapolis@noaa.gov.

Weather Radio Questions

1. What weather radio transmitter covers my county?

• A map of weather radio transmitter areas and maps of listening areas can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/ind/nwr

2. What codes do I need to program in for my weather radio?

• The county codes for each weather radio can be found on our weather radio page: https://www.weather.gov/ind/nwr#xmtrs Click on the transmitter serves your county (see previous question above)

3. What is the current status of the weather radio transmitter that serves my area?

• To check the status or report an outage, please visit the NWR Outage Page.

4. When can I test my weather radio?

• Weather radio tests are conducted by the Indianapolis office every Wednesday between 11:00 AM and Noon. Please note that every weather radio does not react the same to the weekly test.

5. What items are alerted on the weather radio?

• https://www.weather.gov/ind/nwr#ALARM

Miscellaneous Questions

1. Where is tornado alley located?

• There are different ways to create maps of tornado alley, the area of relatively high tornado occurrence in the USA, depending on the factors you consider. Dr. Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory has derived an image based on the number of tornado days per year from 1980-1999.