A new Federal report released by the Obama administration last week states that climate change is already reshaping the United States.  Hotter temperatures and  increasingly heavy downpours are among the effects the report points out.  Winters in the US are now shorter and warmer than they were 30 years ago, with an increase of more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit in the Midwest and northern Great Plains.

Other predicted changes will have an even greater impact on US society.  Such predicted changes include:  increasing forest growth in the East with a corresponding decrease in the West with water scarcity, increased heat-related deaths as the number of days over 100 degrees increases, rising sea levels with thousands of miles of roads likely underwater along the coastline over the next 50-100 years, and decreased crop production as carbon dioxide levels rise and warm winters aid the spread of insects and disease.

For more information on this report, see the US Global Change Research Program.