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.
(The REPORTER) — The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, June 10, regarding a proposed corridor improvement project on State Road 32 in Hamilton County.
The hearing will provide an opportunity for the public to interact with the project team, review the features of the proposed roundabout project, and provide official public comment. Project documents are available for review at improvetomove32.com.
The project area is between East Street in Westfield and River Road in Noblesville. The proposed project includes adding lanes to accommodate two lanes in each direction, removing all traffic signals within the project limits, and constructing roundabouts at the following intersections with SR 32:
- Carey Road/Grassy Branch Road
- Gunther Boulevard
- Shady Nook Road
- Moontown Road/Gray Road
- Pebble Brook Boulevard
- Hazel Dell Road/Little Chicago Road
- Mill Creek Road
The hearing will take place at Prairie Waters Event Center, 4180 Westfield Road, Westfield. Doors will open at 5 p.m. to allow the public to view displays and talk with the project team. A presentation will be given at 5:30 p.m., with a public comment session held directly after. INDOT is offering livestreams of all public meetings and hearings. You must register here in order to participate in the livestream. Livestream audience comments will only be accepted in written electronic form, not verbally. A recording of the livestream presentation will be posted on the project webpage and INDOT YouTube page after the hearing and will be available for at least 90 days.
All verbal statements recorded during the public hearing and all written comments submitted prior to, during and for a period of two weeks following the hearing date, will be evaluated, considered, and addressed in subsequent environmental documentation.
Written comments may be submitted within the comment period to Nick Batta, CMT, 8790 Purdue Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268; or sent via email to SR32HamiltonCounty@cmtengr.com.
INDOT respectfully requests comments be submitted by June 26.
A beloved tradition is drawing stitchers, shoppers, and curious newcomers across the region.
If you have ever walked into a quilt shop “just to look,” you already know how that story ends. One minute you are admiring a cheerful stack of fabric with names like sunflower, buttercream, and cardinal red, and the next you are seriously considering whether your house has room for a new table runner, a holiday wall hanging, and perhaps a life-changing bundle of fat quarters. Quilt shops have that effect. They are part treasure hunt, part therapy session, part color explosion, and in Southeastern Indiana, they are also some of the friendliest gathering places around.
That is especially true during the ALL INDIANA SHOP HOP, the statewide sewing and quilting event running through June 30, 2026.
The idea is delightfully simple: visit participating quilt shops, collect passport stamps, pick up thank-you gifts, and become eligible for prizes. The official event even describes it as a quilting version of a bar crawl, only with less late-night regret and more batting, bobbins, and beautiful fabric. There is even a youth passport for ages 8 to 17, which is a nice reminder that quilting is not just a pastime handed down from grandparents. It is also being discovered by a new generation who like making things by hand, repurposing fabric to help the environment, learning skills online, and sharing their creations proudly.
And really, quilting has everything going for it. It is practical, creative, social, and just a little bit magical.
A quilt can be a baby gift, a comfort during a hard season, a graduation present, a family heirloom, or simply a way to make a couch look much more put together than the people sitting on it. Quilters are surgeons with rotary cutters, artists with thread, and storytellers with fabric. They notice pattern, texture, memory, and meaning. Even non-quilters tend to fall under the spell. You do not need to know how to piece a block to appreciate the patience, skill, and imagination it takes to turn small shapes into something that warms both the room and the people in it.
That is one reason local quilt shops matter so much.
Yes, they sell fabric, books, notions, patterns, batting, and tools that can make a beginner feel both excited and slightly underqualified. But they also do something online shopping cannot: they welcome people in. Good quilt shops are places where somebody will help you match prints, explain what on earth a layer cake is, admire your progress, and gently steer you away from a fabric choice you may regret in broad daylight. They are equal parts classroom, clubhouse, and creative headquarters.
Southeastern Indiana is lucky to have several shops that make a Shop Hop route feel less like an errand list and more like a mini road trip with excellent scenery and even better conversation.
In Versailles, The Quilter’s Nook has become a creative quilting and sewing destination with classes, learning opportunities, and plenty of supplies and inspiration for anyone wanting to sharpen their skills or finally start that project they have been thinking about for two years. In Greensburg, Tree City Stitches is known for its premium fabrics, project kits, classes, and welcoming atmosphere, with plenty of samples on display to spark ideas before you even make it to the cutting counter.
In Vevay, Cardinal Quilts offers a deep fabric selection, quilting classes, and longarm services, making it the kind of place where serious quilters can stock up and newcomers can get helpful guidance without a trace of intimidation. And in Madison, L&L Yard Goods has been operating in the same location since 1986, offering quilting essentials, classes, and the sort of steady hometown presence that makes people come back year after year.
Together, these shops help keep quilting visible, vibrant, and local.
They also provide handmade quilts for community projects, children’s hospitals, veterans, and emergency services just like the early quilters did centuries ago.
So if your summer plans could use a little more color, a little more small-town charm,
and maybe a little more excuse to buy fabric you absolutely do not need but definitely deserve, the Shop Hop is calling. Bring a friend, bring your passport, and bring a willingness to be delighted by places where craftsmanship still matters and people still make beautiful things with their hands.
In Southeastern Indiana, quilting is more than a hobby.
It is history from the days of early pioneers, hospitality that warms you, creativity and community all stitched together one square at a time.
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