Appalachia to become Hotter Wetter AND Drier in Climate Model with Severe Economic Impacts
WVTF Public Radio
By ROBBIE HARRIS
August 11,2019
A new climate projection by hydrologists at West Virginia University warns that Appalachia could become as much as 10 degrees hotter by mid-century. Working with other universities and a worldwide climate matrix, known as MACA they created scenarios for what the 4-hundred-20 counties that comprise the region could look like weather-wise.
Nicolas Zegre is director of the Mountain Hydrology Laboratory at WVU. If nothing is done to mitigate temperature rise, the study says, Appalachia is likely to become not only hotter, but wetter and drier. How can it be both? Zegre, an associate professor of forest hydrology in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and his team, just completed a study of the entire 7 state region. Here’s how they say it would happen: “As the atmosphere warms, evaporation increases so water that is in the trees, in the soil, in our crops, in wetlands lakes and rivers, evaporates more quickly.” And with all that water held in the atmosphere, when it rains it pours. “In the steep topography of the Appalachian region, what this translates to, is landslides and floods.”
...This study points out, similar climate crises, extreme weather and increased droughts are already well underway. “Climate change used to be a 100 years away, hard for the human brain to understand,” says Zegre. “But, as we open our eyes and use our bodies, (the ultimate sensors) we see that climate change is now.” These intense floods and droughts are already causing disruptions of our economic system, “so that’s the critical thing about our study and others around the globe; Climate change is exacerbating situations by introducing more variability in our water systems and with climate change comes greater variability, which makes it harder to manage any single event.”
https://www.wvtf.org/post/appalachia-become-hotter-wetter-and-drier-climate-model-severe-economic-impacts#stream/0
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