This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing.
The Fourth National Climate Assessment report suggests that by 2050, the U.S. could see as much as 2.3 additional degrees Fahrenheit of warming. A record-warm year like 2016 would become the norm. By that same year, in a worst case scenario, coral reefs in Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific territories could be bleaching every single year, leading to destruction of the marine ecology in those regions.
Key crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans would see declining yields as temperatures rise.
Depending on the pace of emissions, Phoenix, Arizona, which experiences about 80 days with over 100 degree temperature in a given year could see between 120 and 150 days of burning temperature every year by the end of the century.
Stay tuned next time to find out who is most vulnerable to climate change effects.
