Climate Study Says Florida Heat Will Reach New England in Decades
Depending on your perspective, you could find the country's predicted climate shifts alarming and disruptive or refreshing, especially if you enjoy summering in Florida or California, but live a great distance from either.
According to a newly-unveiled set of weather predictions for 1,001 cities across the United States, summers are going to keep getting hotter throughout the country as greenhouse gases continue to be released into the atmosphere -- resulting in places like Boston feeling more like Miami and the weather in northern locales like Montana approximating more the sizzle of Southern California.
The progressive warming of the nation is the take-away of 1,001 Blistering Future Summers, an interactive new report posted online by Climate Central a nonprofit news organization that analyzes and reports on climate science and the impact climate change is having on America.
"Summers in most of the U.S. are already warmer than they were in the 1970s ... and climate models tell us that summers are going to keep getting hotter as greenhouse gas emissions continue," said a news release about the new study. "What will this warming feel like? Our new analysis of future summers illustrates just how dramatic warming is going to be by the end of this century if current emissions trends continue unabated."
The data contained in 1,001 Blistering Future Summers were used to project summer high temperatures at the end of this century for 1,001 cities and then showed which city in the U.S. -- or elsewhere in the world, if there wasn't an American equivalent -- is current experiencing such temperatures.
Assuming the current emissions trends hold, said the study, Boston's average summer high temperatures will be more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than they are now, truly making it feel as balmy as North Miami Beach today.
Meanwhile, summers in Helena, Montana, will warm by nearly 12 degrees Fahrenheit, making it feel like Riverside, located in California's Inland Empire.
"In fact," said the study release, "by the end of this century, summers in most of the 1,001 cities we analyzed will feel like summers now in Texas and Florida ... [I]n Texas, most cities are going to feel like the hottest cities now in the Lone Star State, or will feel more like Phoenix and Gilbert in Arizona," which currently rank among the hottest U.S. cities during the summer months.
In some cases summers will grow to be so warm, cities, like Las Vegas, will feel like their counterparts in the Middle East.
Summer highs in Nevada's so-called Sin City there are expected to hit an average of 111 Fahrenheit by the end of the century, which is about as hot as a summer day in today's Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And reaching highs of 114 Fahrenheit, Phoenix during summertime will feel much like Kuwait City.
On average, said the study, summer heat overall is projected to warm between 7-10 degrees Fahrenheit, even as the average temperatures in some cities will jump as much as 12 degrees.
This analysis, noted Climate Central, only accounts for daytime summer heat -- the hottest temperatures of the day, on average between June-August -- and doesn't account for local humidity or dewpoint, both of which contribute to how summer heat is perceived.
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