Climate And Geography

There's nothing so depressing as moving to a new city in one month and then discovering that particular month is the only one that gets decent weather. The rest of them make your temperature calibrator crack under the extreme heat, cold, pressure, or gale force winds. Neither is it particularly gratifying to find out that you've bought a new home perched atop a fault line, in a flood zone, underneath a slope known for mudslides, or in an area that is regularly demolished by tornados. To help keep you and your house from becoming a casualty of extreme weather or natural disasters, we've done up this guide to the climate and geography of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Normal Weather

Fort Wayne has what is known as a humid continental climate, which is familiar to many in North America. This means that the city has four distinct seasons: a hot and humid summer, a rainy spring, a cold, snowy winter, and a crisp fall with brightly colored leaves. Experiments with test weights and modern meteorological instruments have shown that winter snowfall averages about 32 inches. Lake Effect Snow, in which winds coming off the great lakes cause blizzards and whiteout conditions, is not uncommon in Fort Wayne though it's not nearly as bad there as some other cities closer to the lakes.

Rivers, Marshes, Wetlands, and Water in Your Basement

The topography of the city of Fort Wayne itself is actually fairly flat, since it's located on a plain. What your executive recruitment firm neglected to mention in the advertising blurb, however, is that occasionally regular plains become flood plains. The marshes, wetlands, and swamps to the west and southwest of the city give the first clue to the area's true nature. Add to that the presence of the Saint Mary's and Saint Joseph's rivers as they flow past on their way to Lake Erie and you get the potential for seasonal flooding from spring runoff.

There have been two so-called "Great Floods" in the recent history of Fort Wayne, one in 1913, the other in 1982, that called for assistance from the National Guard and fleets of septic pump trucks to siphon off the floodwaters. The 1913 flood was the most devastating in the city's history. Six people were killed and 15,000 left homeless, but the 1982 flood caused more monetary damage: nearly $56 million. During these times of trouble citizens band together to stave off the waters with sand bags and willpower, which gives Fort Wayne the nickname "the city that saved itself." Since then, future floods have been cut off at the knees by measures taken by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Extreme Weather

Spring and summer are the most likely seasons for you to come home and find that everything from your bathtub to your heatshrink sleeving has been scatted all over some farmer's field 20 miles away by a tornado. Tornados and funnel clouds do occur in Fort Wayne, though not often. The most severe was an F2 tornado that struck in 2001 but failed to kill anyone.