U.S. Avg. Temp Climbed 1.5 Degrees Since 1895, Draft Report Finds

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Average U.S. temperatures have increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since records began in 1895, with 80 percent of that increase occurring since 1980, a new draft report from the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee finds. The report, released Friday, is a draft, as the NCADAC cautioned, and will be finalized in 2014. As the report also notes:

Certain types of extreme weather events have become more frequent and intense, including heat waves, floods, and droughts in some regions. The increased intensity of heat waves has been most prevalent in the western parts of the country, while the intensity of flooding events has been more prevalent over the eastern parts. Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves everywhere are projected to become more intense in the future.

 

There has been an increase in the overall strength of hurricanes and in the number of strong (Category 4 and 5) hurricanes in the North Atlantic since the early 1980s. The intensity of the strongest hurricanes is projected to continue to increase as the oceans continue to warm; ocean cycles will also affect the amount of warming at any given time…

(H/T: Nature, Kottke.) 

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