The rate at which snow has fallen in the United States has changed significantly over the last 50 years, according to a new report. Those changes have forced Hoosiers to adapt to a changing climate over decades.
The Climate Central report collected 50 years of snowfall data from 145 locations across the U.S. and found that the snowfall rates have changed in all monitored areas, especially in the fall and spring.
“What this does is tell us is that climate change is a thing, and it’s already happening. This isn’t something that’s going to be coming down the road, this isn’t something that’s 10 or 20 years down the road. It is here,” said Sean Sublette, meteorologist at Climate Central.
The report points to an overall decrease in snowfall across the state over the last 50 years, with the most extreme changes coming in the northern and southern parts of the state.
Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute has also created an online tool, the Hoosier Resilience Index, for communities to gauge what climate change challenges they can expect to face in the future.
Another ERI tool, the Environmental Resilience Institute Toolkit, helps community leaders share information about how they have taken on issues related to climate change.