The Yahoo News series looks at climate change risks in different parts of the U.S. and how they will change in the future.
As the negative consequences of rising global temperatures due to humankind's relentless burning of fossil fuels become more and more apparent in communities across the United States, anxiety over finding a place to live safe from the ravages of Climate Change has also been on the rise.
Millions of Americans will move because of climate change by the end of the century, according to a professor. Climate is one of the many drivers and I think it is a good idea to think about this.
Uprooting one's life and moving to a place thought to be safer from a climate change perspective is a bet based on chance, and one that has no real guarantees.
Climate change impacts will be severe in the continental United States and throughout the U.S. In some places they will be more severe and in other places they will be less severe. We all share the risk of the increase of extreme events, but certain places will be more moderate.
There is no mystery as to what is behind the decades-long rise of extreme heat waves, increased wildfire activity, worsening drought, sea rising levels and record-setting rainfall events that are conspiring to rewrite our understanding about where we can be assured safe haven.
The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 27% higher in April than it was 50 years ago. The greenhouse effect has gotten more pronounced and global temperatures have been rising at a faster rate.
For years, the overwhelming consensus among climate scientists has been that humans are causing temperatures to rise and that, short of an enforceable global agreement to dramatically cut emissions, the consequences will continue to improve. According to a report by the United Nations, the world is on track to warm by 2.1 C to 2.9 C by the year 2200. There will be a rise in extreme weather events.
The rate of global greenhouse gas emissions, the upkeep of infrastructure, long-term climate patterns, and how warming ocean waters affect how global warming will manifest in a community.
Computer modeling that has accurately predicted many of the dire outcomes seen over the past several years can offer some insight into what different regions of the U.S. will look like in the future. The country is getting a real-time preview of what is to come with each heat wave, fire season and flash-flood event.
The steady increase in dangerously hot temperatures already being experienced during summer months can make it easy to pick a climate haven. Extreme rain events this summer in Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, California, Wyoming and Mississippi show that nothing is certain when it comes to living with a changing climate.
The series looks at the risks, some predicted and others playing out already, that come with rising global temperatures.
According to a 2020 analysis by ProPublica and the New York Times, no place is immune from climate change impacts.
The analysis included heat stress, the combination of heat and humidity, crop loss, very large fires, sea-level rise and economic damages, and rated each county on the impact climate change would have on them.
The Northeast came out ahead of the rest of the country in terms of relative safety due to the effects of a warming world. Vermont has six of the 10 best-rated U.S. counties.
Three of Maine's counties were in the top 10, while New York had one.
The majority of the Northeast is low in terms of climate risks, with the exception of its coastline, which is vulnerable to sea level rise. In order to promote the findings, officials in places like Buffalo, New York, which lies on the far eastern banks of Lake Erie, have begun marketing the city as a climate change refuge.
Climate change risks are still present in the inland part of the region. The EPA says that higher temperatures in the Northeast are likely to increase heat-related deaths and decrease air quality in urban areas.
According to the EPA, the Northeast has seen a 70% increase in the amount of rain measured during heavy precipitation events over the past 60 years.
The Northeast has a lower risk profile than other parts of the country. It is well positioned to deal with an influx of climate migrants. If they aren't located along the coast, several former industrial hubs that were originally built for larger populations are natural destinations.
The seas have risen 1 ft since 1900 and could rise as much as 21 inches by the end of the century, according to a recent study.
Billions of dollars have already been spent by cities like Boston and New York to protect their neighborhoods from rising waters.
Klaus Jacob, a research scientist at Columbia University, told Yahoo News that New York's effort to protect Lower Manhattan is unsustainable. This isn'tSustainability is defined as doing something good for current generations without producing liability for future generations There are more liabilities for the future.
TheRelocating those already in harm's way would represent a migration of unprecedented proportions
According to the EPA, millions of Northeastern residents live near coastlines and river floodplains, where they are potentially more vulnerable to these climate-related impacts.
The Northeast could see a warming of 4.5F to 10F by the 2080s if the current rate of increase continues. The risks to the Northeast from storms like Sandy will increase as the temperatures rise.
If you go up into Connecticut and towards Boston, you will experience hurricanes for the first time ever and much more frequently. These communities that haven't developed with that risk in mind present a significant risk for them.
New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all had their warmest month on record. The Northeast has emerged as a warming hotspot because of warmer ocean waters and changes in atmospheric circulation patterns, according to a study published in 2011.
According to the study's lead author, some of the biggest population centers in the US are experiencing the greatest degree of warming. Changes in atmospheric circulation patterns and rapid trends in the Atlantic Ocean are driving this warming.
The Northeast US experiences short-term intense dry periods that can follow a period of normal to above-normal precipitation, according to the Climate Program Office. The region is currently in an economically impactful dry spell.
The atmosphere has been shown to hold more water for every degree of warming, raising the risk of extreme rain events that will test existing infrastructure like never before.
It's no small task to synthesise all of the data predicting how climate change will play out. Thanks to a score of 4 out of 10 in terms of humidity and likely economic damages related to climate change, Erie County, N.Y., which contains the self-proclaimed "climate refuge" city of Buffalo.
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