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Climate Change

Climate Change Indicators in the United States

Changes in the Earth's climate can affect public health, agriculture, water supplies, energy production and use, land use and development, and recreation. The nature and extent of these effects, and whether they will be harmful or beneficial, will vary regionally and over time. This chapter looks at some of the ways that climate change is affecting human health and society, including changes in Lyme disease, ragweed pollen season, heat-related deaths, heating and cooling needs, and the agricultural growing season across the United States.

Because impacts on human health are complex, often indirect, and dependent on multiple societal and environmental factors, the development of appropriate health-related climate indicators is challenging and still emerging. It is important for health-related climate indicators to be clear, measurable, and timely to better understand the link between climate change and health effects.

Why does it matter?

Changes in climate affect the average weather conditions that we are accustomed to. These changes may result in multiple threats to human health and welfare. Warmer average temperatures will likely lead to hotter days and more frequent and longer heat waves, which could increase the number of heat-related illnesses and deaths. Increases in the frequency or severity of extreme weather events, such as storms, could increase the risk of dangerous flooding, high winds, and other direct threats to people and property. Warmer temperatures could also reduce air quality by increasing the chemical reactions that produce smog, and, along with changes in precipitation patterns and extreme events, could enhance the spread of some diseases.

In addition, climate change could require adaptation on larger and faster scales than in the past, presenting challenges to human well-being and the economy. The more extensively and more rapidly the climate changes, the larger the potential effects on society. The nature and extent of climate change effects, and whether these effects will be harmful or beneficial, will vary regionally and over time. The extent to which climate change will affect different regions and sectors of society will depend not only on the sensitivity of those systems to climate change, but also on their ability to adapt to or cope with climate change. Vulnerable populations, including the poor, the elderly, those already in poor health, the disabled, and indigenous populations, are most at risk.

Summary of Key Points

  • Heating and Cooling Degree Days. Heating and cooling degree days measure the difference between outdoor temperatures and the temperatures that people find comfortable indoors. As the U.S. climate has warmed in recent years, heating degree days have decreased and cooling degree days have increased overall, suggesting that Americans need to use less energy for heating and more energy for air conditioning. This pattern stands out the most in the North and West, while much of the Southeast has experienced the opposite results.
  • Heat-Related Deaths. Since 1979, more than 9,000 Americans were reported to have died as a direct result of heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke. The annual death rate is higher when accounting for other deaths in which heat was reported as a contributing factor. Considerable year-to-year variability in the data and certain limitations of this indicator make it difficult to determine whether the United States has experienced long-term trends in the number of deaths classified as "heat-related."
  • Lyme Disease. Lyme disease is a bacterial illness spread by ticks that bite humans. Tick habitat and populations are influenced by many factors, including climate. Nationwide, the rate of reported cases of Lyme disease has approximately doubled since 1991. Lyme disease is most common in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, where some states now report 50 to 100 more cases of Lyme disease per 100,000 people than they did in 1991.
  • Length of Growing Season. The average length of the growing season in the contiguous 48 states has increased by nearly two weeks since the beginning of the 20th century. A particularly large and steady increase has occurred over the last 30 years. The observed changes reflect earlier spring warming as well as later arrival of fall frosts. The length of the growing season has increased more rapidly in the West than in the East.
  • Ragweed Pollen Season. Warmer temperatures and later fall frosts allow ragweed plants to produce pollen later into the year, potentially prolonging the allergy season for millions of people. The length of ragweed pollen season has increased at 10 out of 11 locations studied in the central United States and Canada since 1995. The change becomes more pronounced from south to north.

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