Getting Toastsy In The Beehive State - Scientists Predict 8F Rise In Average Temps By 2100

[hatrack]

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's future looks warmer and drier, according to scientists. "There are no statements anywhere in this report whether anything is good or bad," University of Utah climate scientist Jim Steenburgh told an advisory committee created by Gov. Jon Huntsman. Instead, the group looked at research that has been done on how Utah's climate might change.

Huntsman's climate council is working on priorities for reducing what some believe is Utah's influence on climate change. They are due later this month. Steenburgh was among eight scientists from the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Utah State University. "We're here simply to talk about climate science and what it may bring," he said.

Utah can expect its temperature to increase by about 8 degrees by 2100, the group said in a draft report released Tuesday. "In Utah, the average temperature during the past decade was higher than observed during any comparable period of the past century and roughly 2 degrees higher than the 100-year average," the report said.

The state should expect less Colorado River water and lower lake levels unless precipitation increases, the group said. The scientists said there is "very high confidence" that human activities are to blame for global warming of the past 50 years.

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http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/231506/4/

[kestrel91316]

1. A large part of UT is already desert........

[phantom power]

2. The snow-pack in the mountains will be affected.

even more than it is already.

[kestrel91316]

4. I know. I cut my eyeteeth on Utah powder back in my skiing days.....

[phantom power]

5. Loss of skiiing makes me sad. Loss of the summer melt-water makes me frightened.

I always thought it would be fun to teach my daughter to ski (assuming I still remember myself). Now I wonder if it's worth teaching her a sport that quite possibly has no future.

[kestrel91316]

6. Take her hiking and climbing, and teach her how to cross-country ski.

The commercial ski resorts are probably doomed, but we will have winter snow for some time to come - enough to play on in shady parts of the woods......

[Delphinus]

3. In a few years from now,

if we're still around, I expect to hear "this is happening faster that we have anticipated" or that famous line by Condi ... "no one could have expected _____ {fill in the blank}."