Northwest

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This chapter explains four key findings regarding climate change and its current and coming effects on the U.S. Northwest region. 1) Changes in the timing of streamflow related to changing snowmelt are already observed and will continue, reducing the supply of water for many competing demands and causing far-reaching ecological and socioeconomic consequences. 2) In the coastal zone, the effects of sea level rise, erosion, inundation, threats to infrastructure and habitat, and increasing ocean acidity collectively pose a major threat to the region. 3) The combined impacts of increasing wildfire, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases are already causing widespread tree die-off and are virtually certain to cause additional forest mortality by the 2040s and long-term transformation of forest landscapes. Under higher emissions scenarios, extensive conversion of subalpine forests to other forest types is projected by the 2080s. 4) While the agriculture sector’s technical ability to adapt to changing conditions can offset some adverse impacts of a changing climate, there remain critical concerns for agriculture with respect to costs of adaptation, development of more climate-resilient technologies and management, and availability and timing of water. After explanations about each of these four key findings for the Northwest, the authors provide an extensive references list, followed by a lengthy explanation of the processes—the evidence base, new information and remaining uncertainties, and the degree of confidence based on evidence and agreement or estimates of impacts or consequences—involved in developing the key messages regarding this region.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology; Online

Suggested Citation: Mote, P., A. K. Snover, S. Capalbo, S. D. Eigenbrode, P. Glick, J. Littell, R. Raymondi, and S. Reeder, 2014: Ch. 21: Northwest. Climate change impacts in the United States: The third national climate assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, editors, U.S. Global Change Research Program. 487-513. Available at: doi:10.7930/J04Q7RWX.