The effects of global warming are much more complex than a uniform rise in temperatures. The poles are warming at a much faster pace than the lower latitudes affecting wind patterns and ocean circulation. These changes in turn affect regional precipitation patterns and temperatures differently.

A number of studies have been conducted to help us understand how climate change will affect Ohio, the Midwest and the Great Lakes region. These reports give us an idea of how our local climate will change and how our communities will be affected.

The observed impacts
We're already feeling the impacts of climate change in Northeast Ohio and the Midwest. There has been:

• A noticeable increase in average temperatures despite strong year-to-year variations
• An extended growing season (frost-free) by more than a week, mainly due to an earlier arrival of spring
• Heavy downpours twice as frequent as they were 100 years ago
• Above average precipitation, both in winter and summer. The last three decades have been the wettest period in a century.
• Record-breaking floods – two in the last 15 years in the Midwest
• A decrease in lake ice
• Changes in plant hardiness zones since 1990
• More major heat waves and fewer cold snaps

The projected impacts
The same reports also makes several projections about how climate change will affect the Midwest in the coming decades.

• Lake levels will be lower due to increased evaporation that results from the decrease in lake ice. Shipping, beaches, infrastructure, and ecosystems will be affected.
• More frequent, severe, and longer lasting heat waves resulting in more deaths and heat related illnesses, a greater demand for electricity and increased days for ground level ozone warnings
• Disease carrying insects will survive and thrive easier in a warmer climate (ticks and mosquitoes)
• Increases in precipitation in the winter and spring, with more heavy downpours leading to more frequent flooding and increased run off overloading drainage systems and overloading water treatment facilities increasing the risk of waterborne diseases
• Longer periods between rainfalls will increase evaporation causing a decline in river levels and wetlands, and increase the likelihood of drought and reduces aquifer recharge.

Some degree of warming will continue to take place even if the entire world were to completely halt emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow since these gases stay in the atmosphere for centuries or longer. This underscores the urgency of not only mitigating future emissions but also developing strategies to adapt to this inevitable, continued warming.

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Additional resources

U.S. Global Change Research Program, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States – Regional Climate Impacts: Midwest, notes a number of changes that are already being observed in our region of the county

Union of Concerned Scientists, Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Midwest: Ohio. July 2009.

Climate change impacts in Northeast Ohio - GCBL website