The Heat Is On

Our first significant heat wave hit Indiana this week with the added benefit of high humidity.  Because the humidity reduces the rate our sweat can evaporate from our skin (a natural cooler process), conditions felt more uncomfortable and hotter than what it really was.  Fortunately, daily high air temperatures should gradually drop into the 80s over the next few days, bringing some relief.  Unfortunately, humidity will remain high and winds will stay calm. While the extreme heat emergency may expire, it is still going to feel like the hot and muggy Indiana summer that provides all the green vegetation and bugs.  Continue to be cautious when outside, stay hydrated, and seek indoor or shady breaks whenever possible.

Indiana is now 100% drought free due to the rains last weekend in southern Indiana.  Our latest area of interest may be northeastern Indiana that is not due for significant rainfall for a while.  Forecasts are favoring more rain across our northern counties, but will it be enough?  With the increasing temperatures and less rain in our future, we need to be aware of potential dryness developing.  Looking beyond the next 7 days out to 2 weeks, prediction models continue to favor temperatures staying above normal, but precipitation is most likely to be near normal with some slight favoring of above-normal precipitation across the southern half of our state.  Ideally, this should discourage conditions from deteriorating too quickly but there are no guarantees.

Remarkably, modified growing degree-day accumulations since April 15, 2026, are very near normal across much of the state with only southern Indiana being slightly ahead of historical average (Figure 1).   Assuming a daily accumulation this time of year of around 25 units, those departures suggest that region is only a few days ahead of normal.  On the flip side, modified growing degree-day accumulations since May 1^st have been slightly below normal.  Therefore, crops that may have been planted in early May as opposed to late April may seem a few days behind the average schedule, particularly in central Indiana (Figure 2).