Climate Change Noticed in Major Cities (U.S.A.)

Sep 14th 2007
Tags: Uncategorized

WeatherBill released a new climate change study highlighting temperature changes across 130 U.S. cities, in 42 states, each with a population of at least 100,000. WeatherBill analyzed thirty years of historical weather data from the National Weather Service weather stations in these larger U.S. cities to determine trends in daily average temperature. The study finds 57% of the cities show increasing winter temperatures, especially in the Midwest. The average annual winter temperature increase across all 130 cities is 0.08 degrees F, which would amount to 2.4 degrees F increase over thirty years. Only 13% of the cities studied show increasing summer temperatures, most notably cities in New England. A free copy of the study can be downloaded from their webpage:
http://www.weatherbill.com/reports/temptrends

During the winter (November-February) 74 of the 130 cities show increasing temperatures, while only 2 cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, show decreasing temperatures. Fifty-four cities show no change in winter temperature. Increases are most prevalent in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and in the Midwest. Eight Midwestern cities, including Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Omaha show at least a 0.20 degrees F increase annually, which adds up to 6.0 degrees F over a thirty year period. Temperature increases are noted in all U.S. regions except the Pacific.

Changing temperature trends are far less prevalent in the summer (June-September), when 85% of the cities analyzed show no change in temperature. Only 17 cities show increasing summer temperatures, most notably in New England. Boise, Hartford, Detroit and Las Vegas are seeing summer temperature increases of at least 0.09 degrees F, which adds up to a 2.7 degrees F increase over thirty years. Reno is increasing 0.23 degrees F in the summer, which would amount to 6.9 degrees F over thirty years. Two cities show decreasing summer temperatures: San Diego and Hampton, Virginia.

Ten cities show increasing temperature trends in both winter and summer, including Boise, Hartford, Detroit and Philadelphia. San Diego is the only city with decreasing temperatures in winter and summer.

WeatherBill published this original study to help urban consumers and businesses better understand local temperature trends for planning and risk management. Over 58 million people live in the larger cities studied, more than 187 million live and work in the metropolitan areas, representing 62% of the population.

“Our weather sensitive clients in Agriculture, Construction, Manufacturing & Retail, and Travel & Leisure frequently ask us for detailed weather insights and climate change impacts,” says WeatherBill CEO David Friedberg, “Now millions of businesses sensitive to temperature change can make more accurate estimates of seasonal averages and plan for the business impact accordingly.”

Business owners can also use the free tools at their webpage: http://www.weatherbill.com/ tools to compare their financials to historical weather data for a more detailed understanding of how weather may affect their business. WeatherBill can also help address changing weather by providing coverage to protect revenue and control costs from its negative effects.

About WeatherBill:

WeatherBill, Inc. provides the only online service that allows businesses to protect revenue and control costs from the impact of bad weather. Founded by former Googlers, CEO David Friedberg and CTO Siraj Khaliq, WeatherBill is funded by New Enterprise Associates and Index Ventures and backed by Nephila Capital, one of the world’s largest weather risk and catastrophe reinsurance fund managers.

Source for this post: WeatherBill, Inc.

Website and webpages: http://www.weatherbill.com/
http://www.weatherbill.com/tools
http://www.weatherbill.com/reports/temptrends