DECEMBER 2016

A Message from the IN CCIA Director

It has been an interesting year for the climate and climate change research – 2016 brought record highs (global temperatures) and lows (Arctic ice extent), and closed out with a heavy dose of uncertainty about the future of federal climate change policies in the United States.

While the new administration may dramatically shift the stance of the federal government towards climate change, the challenge itself will remain, and so the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment (IN CCIA) continues its work to prepare the state for the future. We are making good progress. We have formed working groups to examine the implications of climate change for the state on nine different fronts – from Agriculture to Aquatic Ecosystems to Health. These working groups are in conversation with decision makers and the public to better understand what information will be most valuable, so they can produce the most useful reports possible (given the constraints of existing information).

Planning for the future is good common sense, and something that Hoosiers have historically done well. The IN CCIA is helping in this effort. If there is specific information about climate that would help you plan for the future, please let us know – we want our reports to be as useful as possible. Feel free to contact the IN CCIA coordinator, Melissa Widhalm.

So what’s next for the IN CCIA? In 2017, we’ll be talking to Hoosiers around the state about climate risks and impacts, listening to peoples’ information needs, producing reports, and helping the state prepare for the future climate. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months. In the meantime, we wish you a peaceful holiday season and new year.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jeffrey Dukes

Updates from the Climate Working Group

Over the past month, the Climate Working Group has made significant strides toward assessing Indiana’s future climate. A team at Notre Dame has assembled a large dataset of high-resolution (“downscaled”) climate forecasts for the state from a variety of climate models. Researchers at the Purdue Climate Change Research Center are currently developing another dataset with even finer resolution on the university’s brand new Halstead supercomputer. We are grateful to Purdue’s Research Computing team for allowing us to be their guinea pigs, providing us with the valuable opportunity to test the limits of their impressive new machine. Few universities in the world have such powerful computing resources. Together, data from the groups at Notre Dame and Purdue will allow us to address a wide variety of questions and lay a foundation for the other IN CCIA Working Groups to use. In the coming months, these groups will produce reports that will provide Hoosiers with useful information about future conditions in our state.

Connections to the 4th National Climate Assessment

Did you know the Global Change Research Act (1990) requires the development of a national climate assessment no less than every four years? This report is charged with documenting historical and future climate trends in the U.S. and analyzing the effects of global change on numerous sectors. The most recent assessment, released in May 2014, is available online at http://nca2014.globalchange.gov.

Efforts are now underway to develop the next national assessment, NCA4, which is slated for release in late 2018. As part of this process the national team wants to hear from state- and local-level stakeholders about how climate change affects them and what can be done to minimize those risks. As a member of the NCA network, the IN CCIA has been invited to participate in the Midwest Regional Listening Session in spring 2017.

This session will be open to all, and we want to have a strong turn out for Indiana. Additional details about the date, time, and location of this meeting will be shared in the coming months. You can find more information about NCA4 online at http://globalchange.gov/nca4.

Upcoming Events

January 31, 2017 | Webinar
NCAnet Partners Conversation, hosted by the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Would you like to get involved? Contact Melissa Widhalm, IN CCIA Coordinator for details.

Climate Facts

Did you know...
Our long-term climate records show that December temperatures in Indiana are steadily trending upward? In fact, this trend holds true whether you're looking at maximum, average, or minimum temperature. It can be easy to forget that our Decembers are warming, especially when our weather over the last couple weeks has been so cold. However, it was just one year ago, in 2015, when Indiana recorded the warmest December on record (dating back to 1895).

While many might welcome warmer winter temperatures and the associated decline in extremely cold days, mild winters can bring trouble. For example, pests and pathogens have a better chance at overwintering, which can affect crops and people the following spring and summer. Also, mild winters can increase roadway maintenance costs as temperatures bounce back-and-forth above and below the freezing mark, stressing pavement.

Shown above are December minimum temperatures for Indiana from 1895-2015 from the NOAA NCEI Climate at a Glance database. The long-term average minimum temperature is 22°F, and records show an increase of 3°F over the last century. Last year was only the second year on record where average minimum temperatures in Indiana were above the freezing mark.

About Us:
Led by the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment (IN CCIA) is a statewide effort that will bring together the best available climate change research into a series of reports that will help Hoosiers better understand climate change-related risks so they can prepare for challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

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Purdue Climate Change Research Center · 203 S. Martin Jishke Drive · Purdue University · West Lafayette, IN 47907 · USA