Warnings for Florida on climate change

AP: Scientists and economists Tuesday warned lawmakers of consequences Florida faces from climate change, including more destructive hurricanes and a rising sea level, but they also said the state could be a leader in reducing global warming. Three panels of experts spoke at a symposium held by the House Environmental Resources Council and three related committees.

Climate change will figure into comprehensive energy and environmental policy legislation the lawmakers will be considering during the 2008 legislative session, said Council Chairman Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach. …Martin Manning, director of a technical support unit with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said he thought solutions can be found but it'll take until the end of the century. In the meantime, scientists said Florida can expect more frequent and destructive hurricanes, hotter weather and rising sea levels that could inundate coastal areas.

Harold Wanless, chairman of the University of Miami's Department of Geological Sciences, predicted a 1.5 foot rise in sea level in 50 years and a three- to five-foot increase by the end of the century. At two feet, South Florida would still be livable, Wanless said. "Three feet's going to get messy," he said. "Four feet becomes extremely difficult to live in South Florida and five feet probably impossible."

Scientists don't yet have a clear picture of whether climate change will make Florida wetter or drier, but either way the forecast is for heavier rains that are fewer and far between, creating a potential for flood and drought, said Brian Soden, an associate professor of meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami.