Report reveals how climate change will affect each part of the US

This week, the New York Times obtained a leaked report by scientists at 13 federal agencies detailing the effects of climate change. The expansive report details hard evidence of human-induced climate and examines how each region of the United States will be affected.

The report had actually been uploaded to a nonprofit internet archive and was available to the public in January of this year, but was not widely read or heard of until the New York Times broke the story. Scientists fear the report will be dismissed by the Trump administration due to its lack of interest in scientific fact supporting climate change.

The head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, who was appointed by Trump, is likely unwilling to concede to the report’s findings that rising CO2 emissions caused by human activity are a primary contributor to climate change.

The report projects that average temperatures will rise as much as almost 2 degrees Celsius this century, and have already risen 1.18 degrees across 48 states compared to the early 1900s. And, as climate change science shows, a few degrees can have devastating consequences.

No part of the country has been untouched by climate change, as rising temperatures, heavy bouts of precipitation, and heat waves all have connections to man-made climate change and are only projected to be worse.

In the midwest, extreme rainfall has risen 9 percent in comparison to the early 20th century, and could rise to 20% if carbon emissions remain unchecked.

In the northeast, the average annual temperature has already risen 1.37 degrees, and is expected to rise another 9.11 degrees by the end of the century.

In the northwest, temperatures have already gone up 1.51 degrees, and are expected to increase by another 8.51 degrees this century.

In the southeast, extreme rain has already increased by 8 percent, and is expected to increase another 21 percent by the end of the century.

In the southwest, extreme rainfall is expected to increase by 20 percent, and temperatures will rise by 8.65 degrees.

The report demonstrates how cutting carbon emissions emissions nation and worldwide is crucial to countering the growing impact of climate change.

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By Kay Vandette, Earth.com, Staff Writer