SAN DIEGO COUNTY IS AMONG WORST-HIT AREAS IN NATION FROM GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, NEW FEDERAL STUDY FINDS

By Miriam Raftery June 17, 2009 (Washington D.C.)—Recent warming in the Southwestern U.S. including San Diego County has been among the worst in the nation, according to a newly-released federal report begun under the Bush administration and finalized by the Obama administration. Average temperatures here have increased 1.5 degrees during the past 20 years and are projected to soar three to five degrees above the historical baseline by 2050 and up to ten degrees by the end of this century, the report predicts. Further, precipitation along the Southwestern border region has fallen as much as 40% over the past 50 years.

View the report, titled Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States: http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/... View Climate Change Daily’s article on the report: http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2009/06/white-house-underscore... View the report’s analysis on the Southwestern U.S. region: http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/... “This report is a game-changer," said Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Climate Change Daily reports. "Much of the foot-dragging in addressing climate change is in the perception that climate change is a ways down the road and only occurring in remote parts of the planet. Climate change is happening now. It's happening in our own backyards. It affects you and the things you care about." The report, issued each decade by the federal government's Global Change Research Program, consolidates and translates into accessible language the latest climate science. It is nonpartisan, Climate Change Daily reports; federal courts ordered President Bush to release a draft last year, and that document provided the foundation for the final version. The report draws these sobering conclusions about our region: Projected summertime temperature increases are greater than the annual average increases in parts of the region and are likely to be exacerbated by expanding urban heat island effects. Further water cycle changes are projected, which combined with increasing temperatures signal a serious water supply challenge in the decades and centuries ahead. The prospect of future droughts becoming more severe due to warming is a significant concern, especially because the Southwest continues to lead the nation in population growth. Tourism, agriculture, and recreational activities are also at risk as temperatures rise and water supplies dwindle, the report projects. In addition, hotter temperatures will increase demand for energy to power air conditioning. In San Diego's East County, the risk of more devastating fire storms is also heightened by hotter, drier conditions. San Diego’s coastal areas also face dire impacts from sea levels predicted to rise three to four feet over the next century—a scenario that could place Coronado and portions of downtown underwater, scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have previously warned in a seminar held here several months ago. Marine life and fishing are also likely to face negative impacts, including dead zones in oceans along some portions of the West Coast. Despite the report’s gloomy forecast, some scientists have expressed optimism that worst-case scenarios can yet be avoided. "We can do something about this," said Donald Wuebbles, a co-author and professor of atmospheric science at the University of Illinois. "What we've shown in this assessment is that we need to act soon. Sooner rather than later. That's an important part of the finding. We want to avoid the worst of the (impacts) we looked at in these different projections."