COLUMBUS – You know what they say about the weather in Ohio. If you don’t like it, just wait about 80 years and it’ll change.
Unless steps are taken to reduce the impact of ongoing climate change, Ohio will see much warmer summers and more extreme weather by the end of the century.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
That’s according to Ohio State University experts who are closely monitoring the international climate talks in Paris, where world leaders are attempting to forge agreements to reduce greenhouse gases.
“If we don’t do something now, it’s going to be really different,” said David Bromwich, an OSU geography professor and senior research scientist for the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center.
How different? In Columbus in 30 years, average annual temperatures could rise by 3 to 4 degrees.
And by the end of the century, those temperatures could be 8 to 10 degrees higher, mainly in the winter and spring, and be accompanied by more precipitation, Bromwich said.
According to projections, that means Ohio’s summers by 2095 might resemble those in Arkansas, while winters might be akin to those in southern Virginia, according to the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center, which is operated by the University of Michigan Climate Center and Michigan State University.
Many of us might actually be in favor of milder winters, but Bromwich warns that those changes also could mean more concentrated, heavy downpours of rain and an increased risk of flash flooding. And in between, longer gaps with no rain at all.