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Which region of the u.s. will global warming affect most besides the southwest u.s.?
And also why do people think that people from the south will easily
migrate to the north, how no job, home and by looking at this map it looks like the south has more water than the north. http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/ggr346/text/maps/us_precip.gif (broken link)
No, the South has more precipitation than the North, not more water.
1/5 of the WORLDS fresh water is in the North, in 5 little lakes: Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario,& Erie. Maybe you heard of them . Michigan alone has over 40,000 square MILES of surface water, more than most of the South combined.
No, the South has more precipitation than the North, not more water.
1/5 of the WORLDS fresh water is in the North, in 5 little lakes: Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario,& Erie. Maybe you heard of them . Michigan alone has over 40,000 square MILES of surface water, more than most of the South combined.
true, but the south does have alot of coastline where they can put desalination plants like they have in many other states which would help alot with drought.
I'm hoping it will affect Michigan the most. If our average January temp could go from 28 all the way up to 29.5... this would be paradise, baby!! Bring it on!
I don't think the issue is necessarily global warming so much as it is global CHANGE in weather patterns. Warming does not necessarily mean every region will actually get warmer - it means shifts and changes in patterns and trends along with some warming in some areas.
Example: I've lived in Atlanta for 26 years. The weather today is only vaguely like it was when I moved here, and it more closely resembles the patterns of North Florida of the mid-1980s, today. Atlanta has always been a warmer climate, but droughts were not commonplace until recently. However the last couple of years, we've experienced close to violent Springtime seasons with tornadoes being very common - also something that was not at all common years ago, as the tornado types themselves are also changing from "hopping" low strength twisters to now more midwestern, on-the-ground, larger, more powerful tornadoes. They even recently shifted the tornado risk map that was years old, and the Atlanta area is now in a high-risk zone.
Whereas years ago we'd get typical showers or a thunderstorm here and there and then it would be gone, we now get what the weather people call rain "events" that can last for days - again, much like Florida weather than anything else. For instance, we are now in a cycle where for two solid weeks there are only a couple of days predicted with a low change of rain/strong storms - every other day - wet/stormy.
There will be shifts everywhere. Snow lasting longer in the West later into the Spring, ice caps melting at the Pole, etc. But I think in the Southeast you'll see one of the more dramatic changes regarding rainfall (drought or extreme rain), and strong storms (midwestern in style) that did not occur here before.
South Florida would be hardest hit since it's projected to get more frequent and intense hurricane. Additionally, in the long run, the flatness of Florida makes rising sea levels a hell of a catastrophe.
I don't think the issue is necessarily global warming so much as it is global CHANGE in weather patterns. Warming does not necessarily mean every region will actually get warmer - it means shifts and changes in patterns and trends along with some warming in some areas.
Reps for you... a lot of institutions are trying to ween people off of the phrase "global warming" and switch them to "climate change" which is a more accurate description of what's happening.
That being said, well all feel the effects in one way or another. I worry about low-lying areas who may be affected severely by rising sea levels as a result of melting ice caps. However, this is just more evidence of how change anywhere can effect another part of the world entirely (i.e. if the ice caps melt entirely, low-lying tropical areas will be under water).
Example: I've lived in Atlanta for 26 years. The weather today is only vaguely like it was when I moved here, and it more closely resembles the patterns of North Florida of the mid-1980s, today.
Have you looked at weather records to verify that your memories match the official measurements from those 26 years? Anecdotal evidence is completely worthless as a measurement of climate variability and yet I'm always surprised how many people are absolutely convinced that the weather is radically different then when they first moved to (or were growing up) in a place.
I actually think that the only way we will come close to a conclusion about global warming is to measure the more directly-related variables such as sea-level, ice cap extent, and average global temperatures over time (correlated with measurements of greenhouse gasses). Instead we've got the idea of climate change rather then global warming which has introduced a much larger set of variables thereby further muddying the waters. If you blame any extreme weather event on increased greenhouses gasses then you've got a lot of fodder for concluding that climate change is real, but the problem is that you've then strayed a long way from the relatively basic correlation of increased greenhouse gases = increased temperature.
Check out NOAAs link about whether climate has gotten more extreme over the years: Global Warming Frequently Asked Questions
My interpretation is that we can't discern a pattern beyond random variation.
I believe that Americans are incredibly wasteful of all resources, and that there are hidden costs associated with making sure energy, water, oil stay cheap so that we don't have to practice moderation. As such, I am 100% in favor of anything we can do to reduce our resource footprint. However, we should do this irrespective of whether human-induced climate change is occurring (since we'll probably be arguing about that until the cows come home).
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. Michigan alone has over 40,000 square MILES of surface water, more than most of the South combined.
