Anderson Freeze-Thaw and Pavement Data

Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Journalists, researchers, and community groups are welcome to cite any figure on this page with attribution and a link.

This page collects the numbers that actually determine how asphalt behaves in Anderson and the rest of Madison County. Climate normals, the drainage properties of the soil under this city, and the age of the housing stock that the driveways belong to. None of it is estimated or rounded to sound impressive, and every figure is attributed at the bottom of the page so you can check it.

The short version: Anderson's winter is unremarkable by Midwestern standards, but the ground under it drains badly and the pavement on top of it is old. Those three facts together explain most of what goes wrong with driveways here, and they explain why maintenance advice written for a different part of the country tends to be wrong in Madison County.

Anderson's winter, in numbers

Anderson averages 20.8 inches of snow in a normal year, which is below the Indianapolis normal of 25.5 inches and well below northern Indiana. Muncie, twenty-odd miles east, averages 19.4 inches; Kokomo, to the northwest, averages 34.1. Snow totals across central Indiana vary more over short distances than people expect, and Anderson sits toward the drier end of that spread.

Precipitation is a bigger deal than snowfall for pavement, and Anderson gets 43.8 inches a year spread across 121 days with measurable precipitation. That is the number that constrains the sealcoating season, because sealer needs roughly 24 dry hours after application. It is also the number that keeps the base wet: rainfall, not snow, is what recharges the shallow water table under this ground.

Freeze-thaw is the number that matters

A freeze-thaw cycle is a single crossing of the freezing line and back: air temperature drops below 32 degrees, then rises above it again. Regional analysis across the Great Lakes states puts the average at 42 cycles a year, with individual stations ranging from about 23.4 at the low end to 60 at the high end. Each cycle expands and releases whatever water is sitting in and under the pavement.

Cycle counts have trended downward across the region over recent decades, with the steepest declines between 2000 and 2020, and they are projected to keep declining as temperatures warm. That is not the relief it sounds like for pavement. A milder winter that hovers around freezing can produce more crossings than a cold one that stays frozen through, and the Indianapolis station's annual average temperature has already risen 3.1 degrees since 1951.

The practical takeaway for an Anderson property owner: assume something on the order of three to four dozen expansion events in the pavement every winter, and make sure that when they happen there is as little water in the asphalt as possible. That is the entire logic behind [crack filling](/crack-filling) and sealing on a schedule.

What is under Anderson's asphalt

Anderson sits on the flat glacial till of central Indiana, laid down by Wisconsinan-age ice. The dominant somewhat poorly drained soil series on these till plains formed in as much as 22 inches of loess or other silty material over loamy till, and its type location is in Henry County, the county immediately southeast of Madison County. Its drainage properties are the reason pavement behaves the way it does here.

Two figures do most of the explaining. The top of the perched seasonal high water table sits between 0.5 and 2.0 feet below the surface during winter and spring in a normal year. And the layer just below the topsoil carries 35 to 45 percent clay, with permeability described as slow or very slow below it. Together those mean water that reaches a driveway base in December has no downward exit until spring.

The landform compounds it. This is a nearly level to gently sloping till plain with grades of 0 to 6 percent, so there is very little natural runoff to carry surface water away before it soaks in. Flat ground, a clay-rich horizon that holds moisture, and slow drainage beneath it are not three separate problems. They are one problem, and every driveway in Madison County is built on top of it.

Anderson's housing stock, and therefore its driveways

Anderson has 27,483 housing units and a median construction year of 1961. That single figure explains more about local pavement than any climate number does, because a driveway is usually about as old as the house it serves, minus however many times it has been overlaid.

The distribution by decade shows an unmistakable manufacturing-era shape. Almost a quarter of the city's housing predates 1940. Nearly forty percent went up between 1940 and 1969, the decades when General Motors was expanding in Anderson. Then construction falls off sharply, and only 2.4 percent of the current housing stock has been built since 2010. Owner-occupancy stands at 55.5 percent and median household income at $46,909, which is the budget context most maintenance decisions in this city get made against.

The consequence for a property owner is simple. In most Anderson neighborhoods you are maintaining old pavement over an older base, and the first question is whether that base is still carrying load. In the newer developments toward Lapel, Pendleton and the Interstate 69 corridor, you are protecting a sound driveway and the answer is almost always to seal it on schedule. Same weather, same soil, opposite advice.

What the road crews put down, and where it ends up

The Indiana Department of Transportation maintains more than 29,000 lane miles of interstate highways, US routes and state roads, and runs more than 1,000 snow plows with up to 2,000 drivers, mechanics, clerks and managers during the winter season. That season runs from about mid-November to mid-March. In Anderson the state routes are Interstate 69, State Road 9 as Scatterfield Road, State Road 32 as 14th Street, and State Road 109.

The treatment sequence is anti-icing, plowing, then de-icing. Anti-icing means pre-treating the pavement with salt brine before a storm so ice cannot bond to it. During the storm plows run every two to three hours on alternating 12-hour shifts, seven days a week when needed. De-icing means applying chlorides to break whatever bond has formed. Madison County and the City of Anderson operate on the same principle on county roads and city streets.

None of that material is applied to private driveways, and all of it reaches them anyway, carried on tires and thrown by plows onto aprons. Chloride lowers the freezing point of water in the pavement, which keeps water mobile at temperatures where it would otherwise be locked up, and adds effective freeze-thaw activity to the surface layer. That is the specific reason an intact sealer film is worth more on a salt route than on a quiet lane.

Sources & Methodology

Every figure above was taken from the primary sources below (accessed 2026-07-25). Where a number is derived (arithmetic on published figures) or covers a broader period or area, the text says so.

1. Current Results, Average Annual Snowfall Totals in Indiana (NOAA NCEI normals, 1991-2020) — Anderson 20.8 in; Indianapolis 25.5 in; Muncie 19.4 in; Kokomo 34.1 in; Marion 24.5 in.
2. Current Results, Average Annual Precipitation for Indiana (NOAA NCEI normals, 1991-2020) — Anderson 43.8 in across 121 days with measurable precipitation; Indianapolis 43.6 in over 128 days; Muncie 40.3 in over 132 days.
3. GLISA, Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments, Indianapolis station summary — 98.6 days per year below 32F; 43.6 in annual precipitation; annual average temperature up 3.1F over the 1951-2025 record.
4. GLISA, Freeze-Thaw Cycles — Regional average 42 freeze-thaw cycles per year, station range 23.4 to 60; largest region-wide decreases between 2000 and 2020.
5. USDA NRCS, Official Series Description, CROSBY series — Perched seasonal high water table 0.5 to 2.0 ft in winter and spring; 35 to 45 percent clay in the argillic horizon; slow to very slow permeability below it; Wisconsinan till plains; type location Henry County, Indiana.
6. Point2Homes, Anderson IN demographics (US Census Bureau ACS 2019-2023 five-year estimates) — 27,483 housing units; median construction year 1961; year-built distribution by decade; 55.5 percent owner-occupied; median household income $46,909.
7. Indiana Department of Transportation, Winter Operations — More than 29,000 lane miles; more than 1,000 plows and up to 2,000 personnel; mid-November to mid-March; salt brine anti-icing, plowing every 2 to 3 hours, chloride de-icing.