Northeast US Appears to Warm Faster

Scientists argue that Northeast US appears to warm faster compared to the rest of the world. Based on a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the northeastern side of the US will experience warmer temperatures compared to the rest of the world. Raymond Bradley is the director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts.

Bradley, the co-author of the study, argued that snow will remain a distant memory for people living in that area of the US. The new study was published on January 11 in the PLOS ONE magazine. It points out that Northeast US will acquire the threshold of climate change of the Paris Agreement about 20 years earlier than the rest of the planet.

The Paris Agreement was bound to limit the increase in global temperatures to two degrees Celsius. Since 1880, the average global temperature had already risen with one degree Celsius. What is more, two-thirds of that rise occurred since 1975. If the 2 degree Celsius limit is surpassed, then an imminent danger will be waiting for us at the corner, and we will have no way to back, facing the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Bradley claimed that this limit which was set is a global average and several other areas will warm even more and even more rapidly. Dr. Ambarish Karmalkar and Bradley have predicted that the Northeast already warmed by 3 degrees Celsius while the rest of the planet is approaching the limit of 2 degrees.

A report filed in June revealed that rising sea levels could cover approximately 30% of Boston by the end of this century. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced on January 9th that 2016 was characterized as being the second warmest year in the US, situated behind 2012.  NOAA noted that no other year had registered so many states surpassing the annual average temperature.

The Northeast may start experiencing wet winters, increase flooding and many days with temperatures of 90 degrees, at least 90 days per year compared to what they had previously experienced.

Nevertheless, experts believe that the Southwest is also bound to warm fast, while Great Plains and the Northwest might face drier summers and severe droughts. Karmalkar stated that policymakers need to be aware of the data useful at a local level, before analyzing the global one.

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