Short, sourced answers to what people ask most about the weather in La Porte and La Porte County, Indiana, and about this site.
These answers cover general questions, not today's weather. For current conditions and official alerts, use Right Now or the Emergency view. Reviewed October 6, 2026.
Right here. Our home page shows the National Weather Service forecast for La Porte hour by hour and for the next 7 days, the latest reading from the La Porte airport weather station, live radar, and any official alerts for La Porte County. Every morning, the Daily Scoop explains the day ahead in plain English. The Weather Service's own forecast for La Porte is on weather.gov.
Sources: NWS forecast for La Porte
From free, public, official sources. Forecasts and warnings come from the National Weather Service, mostly its Northern Indiana office. Current conditions come from the NWS weather stations at the La Porte and Michigan City airports, and severe-weather outlooks come from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. The Daily Scoop's own highs and lows blend the NWS forecast with computer-model forecasts from Open-Meteo. We don't make up forecasts or change official warnings. Our sources lists every one, with a live check that it's working.
You can check for yourself. Every Daily Scoop writes down what we expect for the next few days, and after each day ends, our Track Record page compares it with what the La Porte airport's weather station recorded. A forecast high or low counts as right if it was within 3°F. We never change a forecast after it's posted, and misses stay on the page.
Yes. Our La Porte radar page has a zoomable radar map with the Weather Service's storm warnings drawn on it, the loops from the NWS radars at North Webster, Indiana, and Chicago that cover La Porte County and Lake Michigan, and a guide to what the colors mean.
The National Weather Service office for Northern Indiana, in Syracuse, Indiana. Its forecasters issue the tornado, severe thunderstorm, flood and winter weather warnings for La Porte County. Porter and Lake counties, to the west, are covered by the NWS office in Chicago. La Porte Weather Now passes official alerts along and never issues its own.
Sources: NWS Northern Indiana · NWS forecast for La Porte
Use more than one way, because any single alert can be missed:
Outdoor sirens are meant for people who are outside, so don't count on hearing them indoors, asleep, or in a car.
Sources: NWS: Wireless Emergency Alerts · NOAA Weather Radio
A watch means dangerous weather is possible, so review your plan and know where you'd shelter. A warning means it's happening or about to: for a tornado warning, a tornado has been sighted or indicated by radar, so act now.
Sources: NWS: watch vs. warning
Take shelter right away. The National Weather Service says to go to your basement, a safe room, or an interior room away from windows. A mobile home or tent isn't safe, so get to a sturdy building. If a tornado is approaching while you're outside, get inside a sturdy building immediately. If you're in a car and can't reach one, the NWS says to get down and cover your head, or leave the car for a low spot such as a ditch.
Sources: NWS: what to do during a tornado
Not the classic Tornado Alley, which is centered on the Great Plains, but Northwest Indiana does get tornadoes. A 2018 study of U.S. tornado reports and storm environments since 1979 found activity trending down in parts of the central and southern Great Plains and up in parts of the Midwest and Southeast. Our guide to tornadoes in Northwest Indiana has La Porte's tornado record and where to shelter.
Sources: Gensini & Brooks, npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (2018)
More than 60 inches in an average year, nearly double what places at the same latitude in northern Illinois get. The difference is lake-effect snow from Lake Michigan. That figure is from the University of Michigan's GLISA climate summary for the La Porte weather station, which uses NOAA data.
Sources: GLISA (University of Michigan): La Porte climate station, NOAA data
Yes. When cold air, often from Canada, moves over the open, relatively warm water of Lake Michigan, it picks up heat and moisture and drops it as narrow, heavy snow bands downwind. The National Weather Service notes those bands can drop 2 to 3 inches of snow an hour while the sun shines a mile or two away, and the wind direction decides who gets hit. That's why roads in La Porte County can go from clear to whiteout in a few miles. More in lake-effect snow in La Porte County.
Sources: NWS: lake-effect snow · GLISA (University of Michigan): La Porte climate station, NOAA data
On our snow totals page: every snow report the National Weather Service logs for La Porte County, storm by storm, with a map. During snow, new reports show up within the hour.
From 1991 to 2020, La Porte averaged 42.7 inches of precipitation a year (rain plus melted snow) and an average temperature of 50.4°F, with average highs of 58.7°F and lows of 42.1°F over the whole year. Lake Michigan gives La Porte about 3 inches more precipitation a year than areas the lake doesn't reach, mostly as extra winter snow.
Sources: GLISA (University of Michigan): La Porte climate station, NOAA data
Check before you go, because Lake Michigan's waves and currents can be deadly even on a sunny day. Our Lake Michigan page has our morning Shore Call (swim, piers and small boats, graded every day) and the Weather Service's swim risk, waves and wind for Washington Park, Long Beach and the rest of the La Porte County shore, any beach alerts, the live beach cam, and where to check the water quality. Our Washington Park and Mount Baldy swim guide explains rip currents, piers and cold water.
Only your school district decides, and it posts closings and delays on its own page. Our Snow day page links to every La Porte County district's official site, next to the Weather Service's winter alerts and road conditions. On the home page, School Delay Watch estimates from the NWS forecast whether snow, ice, fog or wind chill could affect the next school morning. It's our estimate, not an announcement. Our snow day guide explains how La Porte Community Schools decides.
In northwest Indiana, about 12 miles south of Lake Michigan at Michigan City. La Porte is the county seat of La Porte County, 26 miles west of South Bend and 68 miles from downtown Chicago by road. Our Visit La Porte page has a map, driving directions from the Toll Road, the South Shore Line and the nearest airports.
Sources: La Porte, Indiana (Wikipedia) · OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data
Central Time, the same as Chicago. South Bend and St. Joseph County, the next county east, are on Eastern Time, an hour ahead, so set your watch back an hour when you drive from South Bend to La Porte, and ahead an hour going the other way.
Sources: Federal Register: Indiana's time zone boundary (2006)
Our Local Eats page lists 39 locally owned restaurants, cafes and bars in La Porte, from breakfast diners and pizza to dinner on Pine Lake, with addresses, phone numbers and directions. Every place on it was checked open in October 2026, and we feature a Restaurant of the Week. Hours change, so call ahead.
Yes. Our weather by town pages have the National Weather Service forecast and alerts for Michigan City, Westville, Rolling Prairie, Kingsford Heights, Long Beach, Wanatah, Hanna, Union Mills, Trail Creek and La Crosse, with what lake-effect snow, storms and wind mean in each one.
Yes. Our Friday night forecast shows the National Weather Service forecast for 7 p.m. Friday in every La Porte County town with a high school, in Central Time, with lightning safety for games.
No. It's an independent local weather site run by Daniel “Scoop” Schlief of La Porte Weather Now LLC in La Porte, Indiana. Its forecasts and warnings come from the National Weather Service: we explain them in plain English, pass official alerts along, and never issue our own. Scoop isn't a meteorologist. He's a SKYWARN-trained storm spotter who has finished the National Weather Service's online SKYWARN Spotter Training and the MetEd courses Weather Radar Fundamentals and Anticipating Hazardous Weather & Community Risk. More on who's behind the site.
Sí. Nuestra página El tiempo en La Porte tiene el pronóstico y las alertas del Servicio Nacional de Meteorología para el condado de La Porte, y qué hacer ante tornados, tormentas, nieve, frío, inundaciones y el lago Michigan.
Yes, free for everyone, and the safety information stays free. The site is supported by donations and by clearly labeled local sponsors. To keep it on your phone like an app, tap Download App at the top of the page.
Yes. The free weekend email comes every Thursday afternoon with the National Weather Service forecast for Friday through Sunday, any watches or warnings for La Porte County, and that morning's Daily Scoop. Sign up on the home page and unsubscribe anytime.
Send questions, corrections, local tips or sponsor inquiries through our contact page, and we'll reply by email.
A weather call for contractors. By 5 a.m. on workdays, each job site gets GO, DELAY or STOP, with the workable hours and the reason, from the National Weather Service's hour-by-hour forecast for that spot checked against your trade's limits. It's made for roofing, concrete, painting, landscaping and event crews. One job site is free by email; the Crew plan is $19 a month and the Company plan is $39 a month. Every company starts with 7 days free, no card needed. See Hard Hat Weather.
The same idea for farms: by 5 a.m., each field gets a call for spraying, hay or field work, with frost alerts the evening before, the dicamba label rules built in, and livestock heat and cold alerts. One field is free by email, and the Farm plan is $99 a year for up to 10 fields and 5 people, by text or email. Every farm starts with 7 days free, no card needed. See Field Day Weather.
Yes. A sponsor gets a “Presented by” line with its name and link at the top of every Daily Scoop, its name under the forecast on the home page, a mention in the weekly weather email, a spot on the Trip Planner page, and a monthly note of how many people read the Daily Scoop. The founding price is $75 a month for the first 3 months, with no contract. There are two spots, one business of each kind. Sponsors never see or shape a forecast. See the media kit.
Yes, for free. Our weather box shows the current conditions, the forecast and any official NWS warnings, and refreshes itself every 15 minutes. There's no sign-up and no ads; please keep the La Porte Weather Now name and link in the box.
Ask us. If it's a question other people have too, we'll add the answer here.