Part 3—Analyze the Data
Step 1 – Analyze Graphs to Interpret Variability
Examine the data in your graphs to answer the questions listed below each set of images.
Examine the images above. Are minimum and maximum temperatures predicted to increase by roughly the same magnitude over the next hundred years?
Examine the image above. Which state is predicted to have the greatest increases in minimum temperatures over the next century?
Examine the image above. Which state is predicted to have the smallest increase in maximum temperatures over the next 100 years?
Examine the image above. Which state is predicted to have the greatest increase in precipitation over the next hundred years?
What are the projections for solar radiation in the state that is predicted to see the greatest increase in precipitation? Does this make sense?
Step 2 – Download and Graph Data for Your State
Place an order for temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation projections for your state through the year 2100. Graph the data and compare these graphs with other states.
Step 3 – Explore the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Your Region
The United States Global Change Research Program has information on the potential impacts of climate change on each of the regions. Explore the potential impacts of climate change on your region by accessing the United States Global Change Research Program website (more info) and then selecting your region on the U.S. map. You may also wish to research climate change impacts by sector from this site.
The EPA Climate Change website has additional information and includes links to what states are doing legislatively to respond to climate change. Other references and state resources are also provided. Explore the potential impacts of climate change on your region and state by accessing the EPA Climate Change website (more info) and then selecting from the links on the page.
Using the graphs you've just created and these published reports, consider these questions:
- How might agriculture be affected (either positively or negatively) by the climate changes predicted for your state?
- What are the projected impacts on forestry on your state?
- What other industries in your state might be affected by the climate changes predicted for your state?
- What human-health related impacts might occur as a result of predicted increases in temperature in the next century?
- Increased temperatures may cause increases in deaths due to heat stress.
- Less precipitation could cause insufficient water supply for some borderline desert environments and make potable water harder to find, or more costly to produce (if desalinated), and bacterial contamination could occur without sufficient water - especially in food processing plants.
- Very warm summer temperatures already contribute to "bad air" days (due to high pollution) in which asthma sufferers and even healthy people are advised to remain indoors to lessen the chance of lung damage. Warming temperatures would exacerbate this issue.