Embedded Files
This page is 80% complete! Needs to be validated as correct, grammar, and formatting.
The Midwest: Hot Hot Hot
The Midwest: Hot Hot Hot
Analysis: American Communities Organization
Let's take a look at expected regional impacts to Hamilton County, Indiana. All data below was taken from the American Communities Organization: Mapping Climate Risks by County and Community.
Data: Moodys (Moody’s helps translate relative risk into financial impact)
Moodys analyzes several physical risks to the U.S. landscape, including sea level rise; hurricanes; extreme rainfall; water stress; and heat stress, characterized by higher temperatures. Many of Moodys’s projections through 2040 show the risks are regional, as illustrated in maps below.
Heat Stress
Heat Stress
High Risk (Borderline Red Flag Risk)
Heat Stress is measured by the relative change over time in both the frequency and severity of hot days, as well as average temperature.
Increasing temperatures have the potential to gravely impact public health. Affected communities are home to many lower-income families that often cannot afford air-conditioning, work outdoors for a living, and/or live in difficult housing conditions. Four Twenty Seven’s white paper “Heat and Social Inequity in the United States” examines heat vulnerability in detail.
More and intense hot days are red flag risks in almost all of Missouri, much of Illinois, southwestern Iowa, and a touch of Arkansas. However, most of the Midwest is in the heat zone. Risk is high for nearly half of Ohio, all of Indiana
Heat waves can also take a toll on physical infrastructure, particularly in cities, and the EPA recommends protecting roads and bridges with materials that can withstand heat as well as bolstering energy efficiency to avoid power problems.
Extreme Rainfall
Extreme Rainfall
Red Flag Risk (Extreme)
Extreme Rainfall is measured by the number of historical floods, the frequency of future heavy rainfall events, and the intensity of prolonged periods of heavy rainfall.
For extreme rainfall, the risk picture looks markedly different, covering more of America’s interior. The Midwest’s Ohio, Appalachia’s West Virginia and Kentucky, and Washington State’s coastline are dubbed red flag. But high risk fans out across the Midwest as well as the South, Northeast, and Pacific Northwest.
Water Stress
Water Stress
Medium Risk
Water Stress measures the projected changes in drought-like patterns, based on absolute and relative changes in water supply and demand.
Sea Level Rise
Sea Level Rise
Indiana: No Risk (East Coast Migrants)
Sea Level Rise represents a population-weighted measure of exposure for coastal counties.
Worst Case (If We Do Nothing)
Worst Case (If We Do Nothing)
In 60 years if no change is made to our greenhouse emissions, Indianapolis will feel like the greater Dallas, Texas region.
Hoosier Resilience Index
Hoosier Resilience Index
Use the map and charts below to explore statewide and county-by-county extreme heat, extreme precipitation, and floodplain land use data. enter your individual town, or county into the community selection box
Q: How will climate change affect Indiana? … Sam Stall -January 3, 2025
A: A recent report from the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment attempted to suss out the specifics of our state’s sweatier future. We probably don’t have to worry about hurricanes, but average temperatures are expected to continue to trend upward. …
....By century’s end, we’ll be sitting at about 6 F higher than where we are now. That means a longer allergy season; hardier mosquitos, fleas, and ticks that don’t die off come November; and more of the sweltering days that tax power grids, crops, and the constitutions of babies and the elderly. Snow will become something of a rarity and flooding spring rains more common…
While that sounds bleak, we’re still in a relatively enviable position compared to, say, Texas, Louisiana, or Florida. The midwest may want to start preparing now to welcome an influx of new residents from less livable locales.
Preparing for Extreme Weather Events in Indiana..I Univ. Aug 5, 2024
Video - Extreme Weather in Indiana
Video - Extreme Weather in Indiana
In Indiana, climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events, such as heavy precipitation and flooding, drought, and extended heatwaves. These trends present significant risks to Hoosiers that affect their health, safety, and livelihoods.
Executive Director Gabe Filippelli and the Indiana Resilience Funding Hub team for a discussion on why extreme weather will continue to be an issue in Indiana and how incorporating this information into planning can help state and local leaders with decision making.
Temperature increase in the Midwest has accelerated in recent decades, particularly nighttime and winter temperatures.
This region will likely experience warmer and wetter winters, springs with heavy precipitation, and hotter summers with longer dry periods.
Risks to human health are expected to rise with warmer temperatures, reduced air quality, and increased allergens.
There may be higher yields of important agricultural crops for a limited period of time. However, over time, increasingly warmer temperatures and other stressors are expected to decrease yields.
IMAGE: Projected change in summer temperatures under different warming scenarios. Summers in Illinois and Michigan might feel like current summers in Texas or Oklahoma by the end of the century. Source: USGCRP (2009)[8]
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse