Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Key points:
- Climate change affects the region in different ways due to the large geographic area that spans different climates.
- Temperatures have warmed by 2-3° F since 1900 throughout the region.
- More precipitation is now falling as rain instead of snow, which is reducing snowpack in much of the region.
- Extreme events like droughts, floods, wildfires, and heat waves are occurring more often.
- Glaciers are melting, permafrost thaw is increasing, and breakup of river and sea ice is occurring earlier in the year.
Scaling down the global process of climate change to specific locations can be challenging. Because the Northwest Climate Hub region is so diverse and expansive, containing everything from the highest peak in the United States (Denali) to dry sagebrush steppe, climate change impacts are different throughout Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Globally, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen 50% since 1850 causing changes in temperature and an increase in extreme climatic events like floods and drought throughout the Northwest. The natural resources of the Northwest are likely to be increasingly threatened in the future, as unprecedented warming, varying precipitation trends, and extreme events intensify. This article outlines climate change impacts that have already occurred, changes that are expected to occur in the future, and resources for climate mitigation and adaptation.