Scientist Warns Southeast U.S. To Prepare For Wild Weather From Climate Change
November 15, 2013 People who live in the Southeastern U.S. should begin to prepare for more drastically changing weather conditions – everything from heat waves to poorer air quality – caused by climate change, according to a new book, edited by a University of Florida researcher Keith Ingram.
The book, which Ingram was the lead editor, is titled “Climate Change of the Southeast United States: Variability, Change, Impacts and Vulnerability.”
Ingram is director of the Southeast Climate Consortium and an associate research scientist with UF/IFAS. “The Southeast already experiences extreme weather events including floods, droughts, heat waves, cold outbreaks, winter storms, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and tropical cyclones. In the future, these events are likely to become more frequent or more severe, causing to damage to most of our region’s agriculture, stressing our region’s water resources and threatening human health,” he said. “The sooner we make preparations, the better off we’ll be.”
Loading ...As defined in the book, the Southeast includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Specific findings include:
- Average annual temperatures are projected to increase through the 21st century, with the region’s interior projected to warm by as much as 9°F;
- Cold days will become less frequent and the freeze-free season will lengthen by up to a month;
- Temperatures exceeding 95°F are expected to increase across the Southeast and heat waves are expected to become longer by between 97% and 234% through the end of the century;
- Sea levels will likely rise by an average of 3 feet by the end of this century. Of particular concern is that storm surges will compound impacts of rising sea levels, Ingram said. People will have to fill raise existing structures and build new structures on filled soil, he said. Many cities and counties will have to build or refit water and sewer plants so they can survive rising waters caused by floods, Ingram said. Many builders, residents and governments are already doing these things, he said.
- While the number of tropical storms is projected to decrease slightly, the number of Category 3 to Category 5 hurricanes is expected to increase;
- High temperature stresses in summer will become more frequent and damaging to agriculture, and will possibly drive dairy and livestock production farther north. Warm weather during winter months reduces yields of blueberry, peach and other crops that need cool temperatures for flower buds to break, he said.
- Air quality is projected to decline and pollen counts will go up, damaging human health.
Residents of the Southeast should begin to prepare for the likelihood of more frequent extreme weather events, Ingram said.
With 26% of the U.S. population living in the Southeast, the region produces 25% of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions, which are partly responsible for the climate change problem, Ingram said.
“We are a significant contributor, but we can help with the solution,” he said.
The Southeast Climate Consortium works with Extension agents and farmers to bring them valuable research. “We work on how to adapt to or mitigate climate change,” Ingram said.
Loading ...Several agencies helped produce the report. They include three NOAA-funded Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Centers: the Southeast Climate Consortium, the Carolinas Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments and the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program.
Source: UF/IFAS
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