California Climate Change Portal

Sponsored by the California Climate Change Center to combine information on the impacts of climate change on California and the state's policies relating to global warming.

Links to:
Calif. Environmental Protection Agency
Calif. Air Resources Board
Calif. Energy Commission
Calif. Public Utlities Commission
Calif. Resources Agency

Download 2006 biennial report Our Changing Climate - Assessing the Risks to California (Acrobat PDF file, 16 pages, 1.9 megabytes)

Highlights:

Temperature: California's climate is expected to become considerably warmer during this century. How much warmer depends on the rate at which human activities, such as burniing fossil fuels, continue. Projected temperature rises are estimated between 3 and 10.5 degrees!

Precipitation: On average, the projections show little change in total annual precipitation in California...The Mediterranean seasonal precipitation pattern is expected to continue, with most precipitation falling during winter from north Pacific storms.... Modest changes are predicted. Even modest changes would have a significant impact because california ecosystems are conditioned to historiacl precipitation levels and water resources are nearly fully utilized.

Impacts:
Public Health is affected by exacerbated air pollution, intensifying heat waves, and expanded ranges of infectious diseases. As temperatures rise, Califonrians will face greater risk of death from dehydration, heat stroke, heart attack, and other heat-related illnesses.

Water Resources; Most of California's precipitation falls in the northern part of the sate during the winter while the greatest demand for water comes from users in the southern part of the state during the spring and summer. Rising temperatures, compounded by decreases in precipitation could severly reduce spring snowpack, increasing the risk of summer water shortages.

Higher temperatures will likely increase electricity demand due to higher air conditioning use. Decreased snow melt flow will decrease the potential for hydropower production...

Loss of snow pack decreases winter recreations...and winter tourism...

Agriculture: California's $30 billion industry employs more than one million workers. Rising temperature can impair optimal development for many crops...such as wine grapes, fruit and nuts. High temperatures can stress cows and reduce milk production. Weeds, pests and pathogens can be exacerbated.

Forests and landscapes: California is one of the most climatically and biologically diverse aras in the world. Global warming and the burgeoning population are expected to impact local landscapes and this biological weath. Global warming is expected to intensify the threat of wildfire and alter the distribution and character of natural vegetation which can cause declingin forest productivity, which in turn causes higher temperatures.

Rising Sea Levels: California's 1,100 miles of coastline are productive for tourism, recreation and other economic activity. Increasing coastal floods can result from increasingly severe winter storms, rising mean sea levels, and high tides. This causes severe flooding, erosion and damage to coastal structures.

Managing Global Warming
California's actions can drive global progress to address global warming through the following strategies:

Reducing heat-trapping emissions
Coping with unavoidable climatic changes

The California Cimate Change Center is one of the first -- and perhaps the only -- state-spnsored research institution in the nation dedicated to climate change research. Other state agencies support similar research. the state has also been at the forefront of efforts to reduce emissions with policies such as standards for tailpipe emissions, renewable energy and energy efficiency. But new strategies and technologies are also needed to reduce emissions.

Read all the details...fascinating, scary and necessary for the literate citizen of the 21st century.