a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populous of the 50 United States. Indiana is the least extensive state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis.

Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Since its founding as a territory, settlement patterns in Indiana have reflected regional cultural segmentation present in the Eastern United States; the state's northernmost tier was settled primarily by people from New England and New York, Central Indiana by migrants from the Mid-Atlantic states and from adjacent Ohio, and Southern Indiana by settlers from the Southern states, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee.[5]

Indiana has a diverse economy with a gross state product of $214 billion in 2005.[6] Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller industrial cities and towns. Indiana is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, and the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 motorsports races.

The state has several universities ranked among the best in 2011 rankings of the U.S. News & World Report. Purdue, Indiana, and the University of Notre Dame are ranked among the top 50 in the National Universities Rankings, while Butler, Valparaiso and the University of Evansville are ranked among the top 10 in the Regional University Midwest Rankings.[7][8]

Indiana has a humid continental climate, with cool winters and warm, irriguous summers.[61] The extreme southern portion of the state is within the humid subtropical climate area and receives more precipitation than other parts of Indiana.[44] Temperatures generally diverge from the north and south sections of the state. In the middle of the winter, average high/low temperatures range from around 30 °F/15 °F (−1 °C/-10 °C) in the far north to 39 °F/22 °F (4 °C/-6 °C) in the far south.[62]

In the middle of summer there is generally a little less variation across the state, as average high/low temperatures range from around 84 °F/64 °F (29 °C/18 °C) in the far north to 90 °F/69 °F (32 °C/21 °C) in the far south.[62] The record high temperature for the state was 116 °F (47 °C) set on July 14, 1936 at Collegeville. The record low was −36 °F (−38 °C) on January 19, 1994 at New Whiteland. The growing season typically spans from 155 days in the north and 185 days in the south.[citation needed]

While droughts occasionally occur in the state, rainfall totals are distributed relatively equally throughout the year. Precipitation totals range from 35 inches (89 cm) near Lake Michigan in northwest Indiana to 45 inches (110 cm) along the Ohio River in the south, while the state's average is 40 inches (100 cm). Annual snowfall in Indiana varies widely across the state, ranging from 80 inches (200 cm) in the northwest along Lake Michigan to 14 inches (36 cm) in the far south. Lake effect snow accounts for roughly half of the snowfall in northwest and north central Indiana due to the effects of the moisture and relative warmth of Lake Michigan upwind. The mean wind speed is 8 miles per hour (13 km/h).[63]

In a 2012 report, Indiana was ranked eighth in a list of the top 20 tornado-prone states based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2011.[64] A 2011 report ranked South Bend 15th among the top 20 tornado-prone cities in the United States,[65] while another report from 2011 ranked Indianapolis eighth.[66][67][68] Despite its vulnerability, Indiana is not a part of tornado alley.[69]