It seems lately that a lot of focus on Climate Change right now is adaptation instead of mitigation. I think this because people don’t fully realize the effects Climate Change might have on their respective environments, so they assume that even if there is a change in the weather in their area, it won’t cause anything too drastic. This prompted me to see how Climate Change would effect the region we currently reside in right now, the Pacific Northwest. I grew up in a town about an hour south of here, and I had noticed some strange weather patterns over the last few years. It turns out, Climate Change is going to affect the region significantly within the next few decades. During the last century, the temperature here rose by nearly 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit on average, and in some places rose nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit. This really surprised me, as I never really heard about it on the news, or from anyone else really, as it seems like this would be a big deal.
From my own observation, it seems that summers around here to have lasted longer and warmer with every passing year, and that the weather in the winter is more unpredictable and doesn’t last quite as long. I also read that climate change is significantly affecting snowpacks, as well as the flow of streams and forest top covers in our area. The average annual temperature in our region is expected to increase by 3-10 degrees Fahrenheit within the next 100 years, which is truly frightening, as this would be a very changed climate from the one I grew up in. The amount of winter precipitation is expected to increase, which seemed odd to me, as I thought the climate would become more arid with increase heat, but then I read that the summer precipitation is expected to decrease by a large amount, which sort of fits in with the trend I’ve been noticing the last few summers.
I distinctly remember that my the summers from both my junior and senior year in High school lasted much longer than they usually did. I remember from my Junior year that it didn’t rain till nearly October, which was quite unusual. The rain came slightly earlier my senior year, but it still seemed abnormally late. The Pacific Northwest is famous for it’s abundance of fresh water, but Climate Change is going to have a significant impact on that as well. A lot of the water here is stored in snowpacks, but these natural storage units are melting at an ever increasing rate. These snowpacks naturally melt when spring comes around, and flow into streams and rivers at a time when there is usually very little rainfall, but the increased temperatures are causing them to melt at unstable rates, and is messing with the timing that these snowpacks melt, causing water shortages in the ecosystem. As was said before, precipitation is expected to increase, but with more rain and less snow. I used to think this region would be relatively sheltered from the effects of Climate Change due to the precipitation and abundance of water, but I never realized that it would still affect it so drastically. It appears no area is safe from its effects, which only leads me to hope that more is done to mitigate, instead of trying to adapt while the things keep getting warmer and warmer.
Alec–thanks for posting this information and your own observations about changes in the Pacific Northwest. I have only been living here for five years, but even in that time I have noticed changes in weather trends. I think that helping people see the changes in their own environments and communities an effective way to get people thinking about climate change. You might be interested in this project, iSeeChange Almanac:
http://thealmanac.org/about.php
It’s a collaborative and crowd-sourced public media experiment that provides a forum for people to share their own observations and experiences with the changing climate. You might consider contributing your own observations to the project!
Very insightful post that hits very close to home for me. Having lived in the Pacific Northwest my entire life, I too have noticed the longer summers and the more mild winters. These past few weeks have seen days reach the mid 60s which is almost unheard of here in Oregon during the winter. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the local ski resorts have been struggling and this year is no different. The lack of snowfall not only has a significant environmental impact, it also has economic impacts as well. Being one of the greenest places in the country, I am curious to how the community will respond in the coming years.
These are very interesting observation of the area that I have also noticed. I grew up in a small farming community about two hours north of here and in the past few years the droughts have been devastating to the crops, hard to think in an area known for its’ never ending rain. My home town is always battling flooding as it is by a flood plane, and my high school growing up was more often closed for too much rainfall causing flooding then for snow, but in the last few years this has not been the issue. The problem has been trying to get the crops watered, not the flooding rivers, streams, and lakes as usual. It is amazing to look at our own home area and see how climate change has hit us right here, in our back yards.
You make some very good observations! Even though I have only been living in Oregon for about six months I have also noticed the strange weather patterns. Upon moving here everyone said that there would be a substantial amount of rainfall, almost no sun, and some snow in the water. So far I feel like it hasn’t even rained that much and the rain didn’t even start until almost November. I hope people are able to realize that global warming is occurring and this isn’t just some weird weather pattern.