Scientists: N.Y. must prepare for climate change now

Scientists: N.Y. must prepare for climate change now

5:42 PM, Nov. 16, 2011 |

Written by Mary Esch Associated Press

• ALBANY — Devastating floods like those caused in upstate New York by the remnants of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee are among the climate change effects predicted in a new report written by 50 scientists and released Wednesday by the state’s energy research agency.

The 600-page report called ClimAID, intended as a resource for planners, policymakers, farmers and residents, says New Yorkers should begin preparing for hotter summers, snowier winters, severe floods and a range of other effects on the environment, communities and human health. It was written by scientists from Cornell University, Columbia University and the City University of New York and funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

“The past year was a good teachable moment in terms of the types of impacts we anticipate with climate change,” said Art DeGaetano, a climate expert from Cornell who was one of the report’s authors. “What we show in the report is that winters will tend to get wetter and summers drier. Conditions this year were textbook for that. Farmers had a tough time getting into wet fields this spring, then there were droughts. The flooding from Irene and Lee brought the classic types of impacts we project to occur in the report.”

The study predicts average annual temperatures in New York state will rise by 4 to 9 degrees by 2080 and precipitation will rise by 5 to 15 percent, with most of it in the winter. It predicts that along the seacoast and tidal portion of the Hudson River, the sea level will rise by 1 to 5 inches by the 2020s and 8 to 23 inches by the 2080s. If melting of polar ice caps is factored in, sea level is projected to rise 37 to 55 inches by the 2080s, the report says. (someone on another list commented the figure should be 10 feet -JF`)

Among the specific regional effects predicted in the report are: