Climate Impacts Group

Famously soggy Seattle sees its wettest fall on record

Seattle, a city known for soggy weather, has seen its wettest fall on record. The National Weather Service says 19.04 inches (48.4 centimeters) of rain fell between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, breaking a record set in 2006. Meade Krosby is quoted. This story from the Associated Press also ran in the Washington Post, The Register Citizen and Rome Daily Sentinel. 

“We know that climate change makes those kinds of extreme events both more likely to happen and more severe.” – Meade Krosby  

With climate models predicting less snow, local ski areas look to adapt

Climate modeling suggests that the region’s snowpack is only going to decline. Ski resort managers and owners are aware of this possibility and are doing what they can to proactively adapt. Amy Snover is quoted.  

Big Northwest floods a ‘dress rehearsal’ for a hotter climate

This week’s intense rainfall and flooding in northwestern Washington state and British Columbia offer a glimpse into the future, climate scientists say. Guillaume Mauger and Meade Krosby are quoted.

“We’re going to see events like this happen more frequently and we’re going to see events that are bigger than this one – a higher likelihood of bigger events.” – Guillaume Mauger 

How one Northwest tribe aims to keep its cool as its glaciers melt

Record-breaking heat took a heavy toll on the Northwest this summer, from beaches to cities to mountaintops. In the Washington Cascades, some glaciers lost an unprecedented 8% to 10% of their ice in a single hot season. Harriet Morgan is quoted.

“Our snowpack basically serves as nature’s water bottle. It allows us to store water when we have too much of it, in the winter, and then it provides us this nice reservoir in the summer when we’re not getting that summer precipitation.” – Harriet Morgan 

Northwest glaciers are melting. What that means to Indigenous ‘salmon people’

Up and down the I-5 corridor, people noticed something odd when they looked to the east this summer: bare rock where snow and ice should be. Research from the UW Climate Impacts Group is mentioned.

The Rising Pacific Forces a Native Village to Move. Who Will Pay?

Washington’s Quinault Nation wants to rebuild on higher ground, but $150 million is hard to find. The UW Climate Impacts Group is referenced.  

WA’s frontline communities face the brunt of climate change

Climate preparedness planning must be guided by those who face the most acute risks. A conversation with CIG Director Amy Snover is referenced in this Op-Ed from Crosscut. 

Nooksack Tribe and partners face up to climate change challenge on South Fork Nooksack River

The Nooksack Tribe is developing a climate adaptation implementation plan. Harriet Morgan is quoted.

“How do we actually get from all of these strategies … to action actually happening in the watershed? [The implementation plan] is taking it from paper to where the rubber meets the road.” – Harriet Morgan 

Clearing the air

Amy Snover, director of the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, discusses how to talk publicly about—and more importantly, act upon—climate change.  

Nooksack Indian Tribe, Whatcom County environmental leaders discuss Tribe’s climate plan

The Nooksack Indian Tribe has contracted to study the impacts of climate change, timber harvests, temperature change and sediment loading on stream temperature, mass wasting (or slope movement), summer flows and winter glacial retention since 2010 and has created adaptation plans for fish, fish habitats, wildlife, Indigenous foods, water supply and water quality. Harriet Morgan is quoted.

“We see the consequences of this warming unfolding around us every day in our communities as well as in the news. It’s not just this distant problem in the future where we can just kick the can down the road and deal with it later.