Climate Change - Impacts

The possible effects of climate change in Colorado include more frequent, hotter, and longer-lasting heat waves; less snow and earlier snowmelt; less available water in summer months, when demand is greatest; more frequent, more severe, and longer lasting droughts; more frequent and larger wildfires; and spread of diseases and pests. For more information, see the web site of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization; two RMCO reports -- Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West and Losing Ground: Western National Parks Endangered by Climate Disruption; and Martin Hoerling and Jon Eischeid, Emerging Issues for Water in the West: 21st Century Drought, NOAA Earth Systems Research Lab, 11/20/06 (2.8 MB PDF).

For information on climate change impacts at the national and international levels, see:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
National Research Council, Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions (2001)
Center for Health and the Global Environment, Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological, and Economic Dimensions, Harvard Medical School, November 2005