Climate change could bring hotter and wetter conditions to New York City, and parts of the metropolis could even be underwater, according to researchers. Climatologists reported to the Mayor's office that temperatures in the Big Apple are expected to be significantly higher than they are today over the coming decades.
By the 2020's, the panel of experts predict that temperatures in the nation's largest city could rise between two and three degrees Fahrenheit from current averages, and precipitation could be 10 percent greater than it is today. By the middle of this century, the city could be between four and over five degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the current day. By comparison, average temperatures in the city have only increased by 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the 20th Century. Precipitation around the year 2050 could be five to 15 percent greater than today, city officials are warning.
"Heat waves are very likely to become more frequent, more intense, and longer in duration... Heavy downpours are very likely to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration... [And] Coastal flooding is very likely to increase in frequency, extent, and height as a result of increased sea levels," the Mayor's office reports.
Sea levels off the coast of New York are likely to rise four to 11 inches by the decade of the 2020's, and 11 to 31 inches by the year 2050, researchers stated.
Heat waves in the city are likely to be three times as common as today by the year 2080, researchers announced. Extreme storms, driven by rising global temperatures and other forms of climate change, could be 50 percent more common in New York City by the year 2080.
Climatologists utilized several independent models to predict climate change, resulting in the wide range of possible scenarios.
Rising global temperatures, causing ice caps to melt, can add to sea levels, driving floods in coastal regions. New York City is particularly vulnerable to damage, as areas are nearly surrounded by water. By the year 2100, sea levels in the region could be over six feet higher than the current average, the report concludes.
Brooklyn and Queens could be especially hard-hit by increased sea levels, as these boroughs feature flatter ground than that in Manhattan.
"The task at hand is daunting- and that is why we're making an unprecedented commitment, with a sweeping plan to reduce emissions 80 percent by 2050, and a comprehensive, multi-layered resiliency plan that is already making neighborhoods safer," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The New York City Panel on Climate Change 2015 released its report to the city in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
