Report predicts 'killer heat' in Georgia, elsewhere in coming decades

[jpak]

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution

A record-breaking heat wave made this past May the warmest on record in metro Atlanta. Now a new study from a nonprofit science advocacy organization predicts Georgia and the rest of the nation will experience many more extreme heat days in the next several decades if there isn’t significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Our analysis shows a hotter future that is hard to imagine today,” said Kristina Dahl, senior climate scientist and co-author of “Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choice and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days,” the report released Tuesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). “Nearly everywhere, people will experience more days of dangerous heat even in the next few decades.”READ MORE: Heat wave has Georgians cautious about crops, outdoor activities

The Southeast region, along with the Southern Great Plains, would be most impacted by the extreme heat, according to the report. Under the worst-case scenario — one which assumes emissions continue at the current rate — by midcentury (the period between 2036 and 2065), areas of states in these regions would experience the equivalent of three months per year on average during which temperatures feel hotter than 105 degrees.

In Georgia, cities such as Albany, Brunswick, Hinesville and Valdosta would experience the highest frequency of extreme heat days with a heat index of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or above, according to the analysis.

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Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/report-predicts-killer-heat-georgia-elsewhere-coming-decades/06vvPLz1BM6L5s5lyonPvI/

[patphil]

1. The Northeast is also getting a lot hotter.

30 years ago we would have a frost that killed our tomatoes and peppers in late September.
Recent years have seen us harvesting those vegetables as much as 4-6 weeks later.
One year the winter was so warm that a Geranium plant in our yard stayed alive throughout the winter and bloomed the next year.

Our Summers have gotten hotter and drier. I expect it will get worse.

Patrick Phillips

[Applegate]

2. Hotlanta, indeed.

[Bayard]

3. Overwintering annuals

I'm having annual plants that have self seeded, and come back the next year. Flowers, I can understand. But this year, I have a watermelon that came up in the old chicken run from last year, and it now has watermelons on it that will be ready to pick in the next few weeks. The seeds I actually planted in the watermelon bed are just now getting blooms.

Same with some tomatoes coming up in weird places. Even though we can get winter temps down in the teens here in KY. I've just never seen anything like it in all my considerable years of gardening.

[Dem Dean]

4. Killer Heat Everywhere

Sooner or later, there'll be no place to run, regardless of wealth.