Indiana
Climate change is here. This is how it is affecting Indiana and what’s to come
How climate change will impact Indiana
Climate change is here in Indiana and its effects are growing stronger, Purdue researchers say. We can expect more flooding in spring and drought conditions in summer, among other changes.
Dwight Adams, Indianapolis Star
Indiana may seem isolated from the effects of a changing climate, but increasing temperatures and changes in precipitation are already affecting Hoosiers.
The impact as greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the planet will touch everything from native wildlife and plant hardiness zones to poison ivy and potholes.
Researchers have been studying the effects of human-caused climate change, and while many reports point to dire consequences, many groups are working toward solutions to help avoid the worst scenarios.
Here’s what Indiana is facing under climate change:
Increasing temperatures
The Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment, put together at Purdue University, says the statewide annual average temperature has been increasing since 1895 and will see “significantly more warming by century’s end.”
Much of that increase, according to Purdue, has occurred since the 1960s, leading to spring arriving much earlier than a century ago. This warming trend has sped up in recent decades, and even small changes lead to serious local impacts.
The warming will increase the number of extreme heat stress days, putting Hoosier health at risk. IU’s ERI projects southern Indiana will face 38-51 days at or exceeding 95 degrees each year by 2050. This is an increase from the seven days of extreme temperatures the region historically experienced.
This warming trend also contributes to the phenomenon Gabe Filippelli, executive director of IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute, called Loss of Winter.
“A lot of our natural ecosystems are designed to have a nice hard winter,” Filippelli said. “A nice hard winter kills back insects. A nice hard winter sets certain fish species up for success. And a nice hard winter also ensures that some of our flowering and seeding plants emerge at the time that they’ve always have. So, we’re losing that.”
The changes in temperature and precipitation can also add to stress on Indiana’s key agricultural products like corn, soybeans and wheat, leading to a reduction in crop yields.
Recently: Indiana State University professor and colleagues say climate warming faster than expected
Changing precipitation patterns
As temperatures rise, rainfall increases throughout the state. Purdue’s study says Indiana has seen a 15% annual increase in precipitation since 1895, which is about an extra 5.6 inches each year.
While the rainfall accumulation will not fall evenly across the state, it’s expected to increase the risk of flooding. This flooding could be exacerbated by the state’s historic loss of wetlands, which have recently lost even more protections after Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Alan Morrison’s (R-Terre Haute) HB1383 into law.
“Rainfall is not coming at the same time, it’s coming as big flooding events more often than not,” Filippelli said. “So that’s causing real challenges in communities as they’re getting flooded more and more frequently.”
Those floods not only affect roadways and basements. Filippelli said in a lot of communities heavy rains push a lot of raw sewage into local waterways, which has its own impacts.
Threats to water quality
Indiana was listed as the state with the dirtiest waterways in a 2022 report, and climate change could add more stress on the vital resource.
Fallow farmland in the winter will experience increased rainfall, potential washing fertilizer and sediment off fields and degrade waters downstream, Purdue’s study says. As temperatures rise, Indiana’s waters will also warm. This warmer water will allow more harmful bacteria to grow enhancing health threats.
There is hope: Hoosiers working toward solutions
As consequences of climate change to Indiana’s environment, human health and the economy stack up, Filippelli said it would have been great to act 40 or even 20 years ago, but “the next best time to act is now.”
“One positive aspect of the science that has come out is that we know that once we achieve net-zero (meaning we are not producing more carbon dioxide than is being removed), that our temperature stabilizes immediately,” Filippelli said.
While the problem is global, there are things we can do locally.
There are tree planting programs with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and other organizations that help make communities more resilient, large-scale painting of industrial roofs to white, and providing better education.
“There’s a lot that people can do to help us be more resilient, but a lot of it has to come from their voice,” Filippelli said. “They need to be aware there’s concern and they need to be hopeful: ‘Hey, it’s a concern, but it’s not an impossible daunting challenge. I can make local changes to make up my local environment better.’”
Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at karl.schneider@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @karlstartswithk
IndyStar’s environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
CHICAGO (WLS) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will visit northwest Indiana Thursday.
She’s expected to bring updates on the immigration enforcement that’s happening across the area.
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Secretary Kristi Noem will give an update on recent immigration enforcement deemed “Operation Midway Blitz,” which Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino has called “wildly successful” in an interview with ABC News earlier this week.
She will be joined by Indiana governor Mike Braun in Gary along with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, among others.
SEE ALSO: Court pauses order requiring CBP Chief Bovino to meet with judge daily on immigration operations
Her visit has been met with some criticism, though, from other local northwest Indiana leaders.
Gary’s Mayor Eddie Melton said his office was not involved with planning the event and is not participating.
Hammond’s Mayor Thomas McDermott also posting on Facebook, criticizing how the press conference was announced.
Counter-protests are expected later Thursday morning.
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Bovino says nearly 3,000 people have been arrested in the Chicago area, as part of “Midway Blitz.”
The expanded immigration enforcement started in September.
Wednesday night, Governor Pritzker sent a letter to Secretary Noem, requesting a pause in ICE enforcement this weekend in and around homes, schools, hospitals, parks and place of worship, so children can safely celebrate Halloween.
The governor referenced an incident in his letter this past weekend in Old Irving Park – in which he says, federal agents reportedly interrupted a children’s Halloween parade and deployed tear gas without warning – on residents peacefully celebrating the holiday.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Officials with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles are warning Indiana residents of a new scam that is being sent to Hoosiers via text.
According to a news release from the Indiana BMV, the scam asks the user for overdue payments over text, including traffic violations or unpaid tolls. The text reportedly “strongly” mimics the BMV’s mobile website and improperly cites Indiana code.
Officials said the messages should be considered fraudulent. The BMV is urging people who receive the message to delete it immediately and not click on any links.
This is not the first time that the Indiana BMV has been the subject of scam texts. According to previous reports, a scam was sent out to some Indiana residents from the “Indiana Department of Vehicles” regarding outstanding traffic tickets in early June.
“We want to make it clear that these messages are not from the Indiana BMV,” the release said. “The BMV does not send SMS text messages about outstanding penalties. In fact, the fees outlined in the messages are not ones that the agency actually collects.”
For a list of known BMV-related scams, click here.
Police have launched a search for two stolen endangered tortoises after the Indianapolis Zoo waited 11 days to report them missing.
An Egyptian tortoise and a Northern Spider tortoise, both of which are on the critically endangered species list, were taken from their enclosure in the zoo’s desert exhibit between 10 a.m. local time on October 11 and 10 a.m. on October 12, Indiana State Police say.
Captain Ron Galaviz with the Indiana State Police confirmed to Fox 59 that the tortoises were not reported missing until last Thursday.
On Monday, authorities asked for the public’s help in finding the two tortoises in a Facebook post.
Facebook users questioned how the theft could’ve happened.
“I’m curious how exactly you steal not one but TWO tortoises from a Zoo?” one user wrote.
To which another replied, “We recently went to the Indianapolis zoo and they’re not in a really closed encounter. They’re just smack in the middle with very accessible fence type thing you could reach in and pick it up.”
“How do you walk out of the zoo with 2 turtles? That must be a big rain coat,” a third user commented.
But Galaviz explained the tortoises stolen were rather small.
“The tortoises are not the large giant tortoises that you see people sitting on and riding around on,” he told Fox 59. “These are actually very small, probably fit in the palm of your hand.”
Galaviz said the tortoises can be anywhere by now.
“They could end up in a pet store. They could be in somebody’s personal aquarium somewhere that obviously we don’t know, [the] black market. I think the possibilities run the gamut,” he said.
The Independent has reached out to the zoo for comment and Indiana State Police for updates on the tortoises’ whereabouts.
According to the zoo’s website, the Egyptian tortoises are typically four inches long and weigh one pound, and are endangered due to habitat loss and pet trade. Northern Spider tortoises, which are five inches long and weigh one pound, suffer from habitat loss and poaching.
Jake Oakman, a spokesperson for the zoo, said in a statement shared by ABC News, it is “working closely with law enforcement to investigate the theft.”
“We continue to hope for their safe return and we appreciate the community’s support during this time,” Oakman said.
Indiana State Police asked anyone with information that could help them in the search for the tortoises to contact police.
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