Climate Change in Our Region

The primary climatic impacts experienced in New England are the increase in the total amount of rainfall and rising temperatures. Notably, the National Weather Service reports that the frequency and intensity of strong rainfall events are increasing more in New England than anywhere else in the United States.  Since most rainfall increases are occurring in the winter and early spring when the ground cannot absorb water, water is lost to runoff rather than recharging groundwater. As temperatures increase, we are experiencing a significant increase in the number of days over 90 degrees.  In addition, the freeze-free period in New England is lengthening, and conversely the number of days of extreme cold is diminishing. These changes in rainfall events and intensity, and warming temperatures, are having a major impact on our ecology. 

Warming Seas in the Gulf of Maine:  In the past three decades, the Gulf of Maine, just to our east, has warmed three times faster than the global average. Over the past 15 years, the basin has warmed at seven times the global average. The Gulf has warmed faster than 99 percent of the global ocean. (August 8, 2018. NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, and sea surface temperature data from Coral Reef Watch. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2798/watery-heatwave-cooks-the-gulf-of-maine/)

Global Warming is Having Local Impacts

Here in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, an increase in the frequency and intensity of rainfall events will stress our existing infrastructure, which was not designed to withstand such challenges. Areas that have been developed or otherwise disturbed are vulnerable to flooding and damage. In addition, if the rate of warming is not slowed, our local climate is expected to resemble the current climate of New Jersey within the next 20 to 40 years, and the current climate of South Carolina within the next 50 to 70 years. In the process of undergoing these changes in such a short period, many of our native plants and animals, including birds and pollinators, are expected to become stressed and may no longer be able to survive in our climate.  This will have major impacts on our region’s agriculture, forests, wetlands, and landscape, and thus our overall quality of life.

Migrating State Climate: Changes in average summer heat index—a measure of how hot it actually feels, given temperature and humidity—could strongly affect quality of life in the future for residents of the Northeast. Red arrows track what summers could feel like in Massachusetts over the course of the century under the higher-emissions scenario. Yellow arrows track what summers in Massachusetts could feel like under the lower-emissions scenario. (Frumhoff et al. 2007, Northeast Climate Impact Assessment/Union of Concerned Scientists)