Indiana is on track to have its warmest year on record in 150 years with only 19 days left. According to the National Weather Service, we are currently just two-tenths of a degree ahead of 2012, when we experienced 80-degree days in March, followed by several 100-degree days during the summer. Although our summer wasn’t particularly hot, we have maintained a consistently mild climate.

Forecaster Mike Ryan attributes the mild temperatures this year to the lack of rain we’ve received.

“We’re running here in Indianapolis, about 8-9 inches below normal for this time of the year,” he said. “Typically, we see somewhere between 40-45 inches of precipitation in a given year, and we’re running at about 33-34 (inches) right now, and unfortunately, as we go through the holidays, through Christmas and New Year’s, we’re not seeing a lot of any big threat for precipitation. It’s a continuation of what we’ve seen in the late summer and early fall.”

Ryan says Indiana experienced a warm September through October, followed by a mild November. December was initially chilly, but has since returned to a milder pattern.

“We haven’t had an extended period of cold all year,” Ryan added.