Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

PA Climate Change Report Warns Of Hotter Summers, Destructive Storms, Floods

AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Amalio Medina sits in front of his un-air conditioned shop in the midday heat, Thursday, July 18, 2013,during a heat wave in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's new Climate Change Assessment predicts more hot days like this one.

Prepare for longer, hotter summers, more rain, more destructive storms, and bankrupt ski resorts. That’s the conclusion of a team from Penn State on what Pennsylvanians can expect from climate change.

By 2050, Philadelphia temperatures will be more like Richmond, and Pittsburgh will be like Washington, D.C. In fact, Pennsylvania has already warmed by 1° Celsius since the early 1900′s, and the future looks even hotter and wetter.

“The findings of this assessment report are stark,” said DEP Secretary John Quigley on a call with reporters. “The entire state will experience the effects of climate disruption. I personally find this report profoundly disturbing. Science is showing us that we are not only changing and disrupting our climate significantly, but these changes are occurring alarmingly fast.”

The Pennsylvania Climate Impacts Assessment Update estimates that just 35 years from now, the average temperature in the state will be 3° Celsius, or 5.4° Fahrenheit, warmer than it was in 2000.

Read more of this report at the website of our partner StateImpact Pennsylania.