Climate Impacts Group

“Climate Change More Urgent Than Ever”: Heidi Roop comments on new IPCC Special Report

CIG’s Heidi Roop was on KIRO 7 talking about the recent release of the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report “Global Warming of 1.5°C” and what it means for our future in the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. 

Sea-level rise report contains best projections yet for Washington’s coasts

One certainty under climate change is that global ocean levels are rising. A new report led by Washington Sea Grant and the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group provides the clearest picture yet of what to expect in Washington state. The full report is available here on the CIG site & here on the Coastal Hazards Resilience Network. 

Harriet Morgan discusses new sea level rise report on KNKX

A new report from Washington’s “Coastal Resilience Project” provides new projections of sea level rise for 171 different sites and communities around coastal Washington state. 

Crystal Raymond on King 5 discussing innovative climate & forestry initiative

Crystal Raymond was featured on King 5 as part of an innovative climate and forest resilience project underway in King County. This project, which was part of her previous position at Seattle City Light, is a collaborative effort with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Seattle Public Utilities, the Wildlife Conversation Society and the Northwest Natural Resource Group.

Guillaume Mauger featured by King5 discussing sea level rise, storm events and future climate

“Rising seas will threaten more than 7,000 Washington homes by 2045, according to a new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Accelerating melt from the Antarctic ice sheet is predicted to cause more frequent and more powerful storms to hammer coastal communities, amounting to potentially billions of dollars of damage over the next several decades.” CIG’s Guillaume Mauger talks climate impacts, the frequency of coastal storms and the influence of the Antarctic ice sheet on sea level rise in WA state with King5’s Giuliana Viglione.

“The difference between the 100-year storm and the ten or two-year storm is pretty minor,” says Guillaume Mauger, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group. 

Ready Or Not: UW Scientist Says Assumptions About Climate Could Impact Local Infrastructure

Amy Snover was interviewed on Rhode Island Public Radio about climate impacts, infrastructure and the need to prepare for the future in a climate-smart way. 

Understanding Recent Warming in Washington State

Wondering about the new analysis that finds average temperatures in Washington have warmed more slowly than any other state in the country? Want to know why? Kim Malcolm of KUOW talked with CIG’s Joe Casola and the Seattle Times interviewed Washington State Climatologist, Nick Bond, to learn more about the role of the Pacific Ocean and why timescales matter when considering climate trends. Listen to and read their insights here:

CIG’s Deputy Director, Joe Casola, on KUOW.
WA State Climatologist, Nick Bond, in the Seattle Times.

“Bond said he’s not surprised to hear that Washington’s climate hasn’t warmed quite as much as other states in the past 3o years. 

What climate change means to our crucial snowpack

Our colleagues in the Office of the Washington State Climatologist at the University of Washington recently wrote an excellent Op-Ed on the importance and future of snowpack in the Pacific Northwest in a warming climate. “The bottom line is that year-to-year variability will continue to be the dominant effect on our snowpack over at least the next decade or two. At some point, however, these variations will be overwhelmed by a warming of the Pacific Northwest. Years such as 2015, specifically its warm winter temperatures, will become more the rule rather than the exception by about the 2050s.”

CIG’s Director Discusses Warming & the Future of PNW Snow

CIG science was featured in a recent article by CrossCut focusing on skiing and snow making in Washington state. Our research shows that the average length of the snow season will decrease by up to 46 percent by the 2040s, compared to historical averages. We will also experience more precipitation falling as rain. For the ski industry, this means a need to plan for ways to produce “human-made snow”. 

2016: Another year of record warmth for the globe

Two separate studies by NOAA and NASA show that in 2016 both globally-averaged land surface temperature and sea surface temperature were the highest on record since record keeping began in 1880.