Mary Esch in The Huffington Posts reports that scientists from Cornell University, Columbia University and the City University of New York, with funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, just released a 600-page report called ClimAID for planners, policymakers, farmers and residents, to plan for a warmer, wetter future New York. Among the reports predictions:
• Annual temperatures in New York state will rise by 4 to 9 degrees by 2080 and precipitation will rise by 5 to 15 percent, mostly in the winter.
• Native brook trout and Atlantic salmon will decline, but there will be more bass.
• Apple varieties such as McIntosh and Empire will fade, but vineyards will do well.
• Milk production will decrease.
• Adirondack and Catskill spruce-fir forests will die out.
• Invasive insects, weeds and other pests will increase.
• Electrical demand will increase in warm months.
The study makes recommendations for how construction might adapt to these changing conditions. See The Huffington Post for the entire story.