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Home > Indiana
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Indiana
The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state accepted by the union. It is situated in the Midwestern area of the United States of America. With about 6.3 million people, it is ranked 17th in population density and 15th in population. Ranked 38th in land area is Indiana and is the least adjacent state west of the Appalachian Mountains. Indianapolis is the capital and largest city.
Indiana is a varied state with a few big urban districts, a number of lesser industrial cities, and a big amount of villages. It is acknowledged nationally for its athletic events and sports teams: the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, champions of Super Bowl XLI, the Indianapolis 500 race, the biggest single-day sporting affair in the world, and for a sturdy basketball tradition, often named Hoosier Hysteria.
Residents of Indiana are identified as Hoosiers. Although numerous stories are told, the root of the term is unidentified. The state's name stands for "Land of the Indians", or just "Indian Land". The name dates back to no less than to the Indiana Land Company 1768, and was initially used by Congress when Indiana region was formed, at which time the land was unseeded Indian land. One of the finest preserved early Native American sites in the United States, the Angel Mounds State Historic Site, can be located in south-western Indiana next to Evansville.
Most of Indiana contains a humid continental climate, with humid, hot summers and cool or cold winters. The summertime maximum temperatures are around 85 °F (29 °C) with colder nights around 60 °F. Winters are a bit more variable, but commonly cool to cold temperatures with all except the northern region of the state averaging over freezing for the greatest January temperature, and the least temperature below 20 °F for the majority of the state. The state gets a good amount of rain, of about 40 inches per annum statewide, in all seasons, with March throughout August being somewhat wetter.
The state does obtain its share of severe weather, both thunderstorms and winter storms. While normally not getting as much snow as several states farther north, the state does have rare blizzards, some because of lake effect snow. Two major paralyzing snow storms accept merit. The January 1978 Blizzard, which affected most the whole state, and the December 2004 Blizzard, which mainly hit the Ohio Valley and later caused the harsh flooding of the Ohio, Wabash, and the White rivers in January, 2005. The state evens out around 40-50 days of thunderstorms for every year, with March and April being the episode of most harsh storms. While not regarding as part of Tornado Alley, the Great Lakes state is Indiana, which is most susceptible to tornado movement. In fact, three of the most brutal tornado outbreaks in the past involved Indiana, the Super Outbreak of, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965 and1974the Tri-State Tornado of 1925. The Evansville Tornado of November 2005, killed 5 in Warrick County and 20 people in Vanderburgh County the tornado killed 25 people in all.
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