Climate Change and Chicago: Projections and Potential Impacts
This report outlines the accelerating changes in climate that may occur over the coming century, and assesses the projected climate impacts on Chicago's public health system, water resources, natural ecosystems, infrastructure and more. The results of this analysis demonstrate the significance of emissions choices, and how these choices will determine the magnitude of the climate change impacts on Chicago.
Three climate models were applied in this study, selected based on several criteria including their ability to represent the past climate, particularly over the U.S. and the Midwest, and the availability of simulations for the higher and lower emission scenarios used in this research. As global climate models are not at a resolution applicable to individual cities, statistical techniques and long-term historical observed climate records were also used in the analysis to scale down the results and make them more specific to the Chicago region.
Publication Date: September 2008
Authors or Affiliated Users:
- Katharine Hayhoe
- Donald Wuebbles
Related Organizations:
Sectors:
- Agriculture and food
- Biodiversity and ecosystems
- Land use and built environment
- Public health
- Urban
- Water resources
- Wildlife
Resource Category:
Resource Types:
- Assessment
States Affected:
Impacts:
- Air quality
- Air temperature
- Economic
- Extreme storms and hurricanes
- Flooding
- Heat waves
- Permafrost melt
- Precipitation changes
- Water quality
- Water supply
- Water temperatures
