Report: Cincinnati to get hotter

In my Cincinnati boyhood, the summers were stupefying enough, with unrelenting heat and humidity leavened by thunderstorms and tornados. Now, they're worse, and the prognosis is even hotter, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer: Think August’s record-setting heat was rough? A new report on global climate change predicts Cincinnati heat waves will be longer, hotter and possibly deadlier as the 21st century winds down. The report on the projected impact of global warming on the Midwest was released Tuesday by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. The report came out just as the region braced for the first winter storm of the season.

Researchers traced weather patterns dating back to 1870, factored in manmade and naturally occurring climate factors, including greenhouse gases, solar exposures and volcanic eruptions, and projected weather patterns out to a period from 2080 to 2099. The results: By the end of the century, Cincinnati’s sweltering heat waves could happen 50 percent more often, and last 22 percent longer.

That will push the region from 1.4 heat waves to a projected 2.1 per year, and their duration will increase from 8.7 days at a stretch to 10.7, according to the report’s authors. National Weather Service records showed 2007 tied with 1953 as the hottest year on record since the agency started keeping records at the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky 60 years ago….

You can find the Pew Report here. The full title is "Regional Impacts of Climate Change: Four Case Studies in the United States," by Kristie L. Ebi, ESS (a friend of this blog), Gerald A. Meehl, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Dominique Bachelet, et al., Oregon State University, Robert R. Twilley, Louisiana State University, and Donald F. Boesch, et al., University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.