INDIANAPOLIS — The definition of a White Christmas is having at least one inch of snow on the ground, and the chances of this happening in Indianapolis in 2024 are slim.

Of the last 81 Christmases in Indy (using snow depth data from 1943-2023), it has only been a White Christmas 23 times. Since 2000, there have only been six times.

The most recent occurrence was in 2022 when we had 1″ of snow on the ground. You may also remember the highest snow depth of 9″ back in 2004.

This year, temperatures will warm leading up to the holiday. There may be a better chance of rain showers instead of snow.

Despite Mother Nature not cooperating for the holiday, we have had optimal conditions this year for creating man-made snow.

Brian Cooley is the CEO of Outdoor Excursions, Inc., which operates Koteewi Run Seasonal Slopes in Hamilton County. This year, he got an early start on creating this snow tubing slope thanks to cooperative weather.

“I started making snow here on Thanksgiving night,” Cooley said. “Everybody remembers how cold it was to finish Thanksgiving and how cold December was to start.”

At Koteewi, water from a 20-acre lake is used to create the snow. The water runs through pipes and hydrants, then ultimately gets blown across the hill by snow guns.

“When all my snow guns are running, I’m pumping over 500 gallons of water a minute,” explained Cooley. “Essentially what you’re doing is just creating a micro-blizzard.”

Thanks to the cool temperatures, enough snow was created to last through the season. Cooley expects the season to last until March this year, which is a big extension from the past.

“The last couple of years, we had warm winters,” he said. “We didn’t get open until January, and we were only open a real short time.”

There is enough snow at the top of the hill right now to make it the tallest point in Hamilton County.

Going forward, the team will work to maintain the lane bumpers and surface of the snow, which can be impacted by rain and mild temperatures.

You can find more about Koteewi Run Seasonal Slopes here.

Remember to check back with our Storm Team for updates to see if we have any chances for a White Christmas this year.

INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA President Charlie Baker testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill, urging lawmakers to implement tougher federal sports gambling regulations, citing harassment of athletes by gamblers.

IU Indianapolis AD Luke Bosso said digital platforms are increasing student-athletes’ vulnerability to such abuse.

“It’s not just the sports gambling, it’s also the social media aspect,” Bosso said. “Every one of our players is available online all the time. When you put passionate people in a situation where they could be winning or losing money, and you make athletes available 24/7, it creates situations that aren’t always the best.”

Baker shared that an NCAA championship team needed round-the-clock police protection after a sports bettor threatened them. He also called on Congress to ban prop bets on college athletes, which are still legal in 20 states.

Indiana legalized sports gambling on September 1, 2019, and prop bets are allowed under the state’s regulations.

Though IU Indianapolis is a mid-major athletically, its student-athletes face the same pressure to perform as those at bigger schools, thanks to social media. Bosso said the school has staff dedicated to helping athletes manage that pressure.

“We have conversations about mental health, we have conversations about the negative effects of social media, and we have a pretty in-depth mental health team that helps our student-athletes,” Bosso added.

Congress members say they will continue to look into the issue of sports gambling.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Time and time again, people keep bringing up the idea to stop changing our clocks twice a year. If this were to finally happen, and Indianapolis had to make the choice, what would be the difference between permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time?

Here is what each would look like in Indianapolis:

Permanent daylight saving time would mean we “spring forward” and stay there.

Being on the western side of the eastern time zone, Indianapolis’ sunrise in permanent daylight saving time would be after 9 a.m. on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

On the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year, our sunrise and sunset times would be unaffected since we already are in daylight saving time in the current system.

Permanent standard time would equate to not “springing forward” at all.

In this case, the summer solstice sunrise time would change to 5:16 a.m. in Indy with a sunset of 8:16 p.m. The winter solstice would not be impacted since standard time is already used in the current system.

Basically, this boils down to if you are more of a morning or evening person. Sunrises and sunsets would both be earlier in standard time in the summer. Daylight saving in winter would result in later sunrises and sunsets.