water cities report

Water-related climate changes and impacts in 12 U.S. Cities

Source: NRDC

Image adapted from U.S. Global Change Research Program

Number of days with peak temperature over 90˚F.

Illinois’s projected “climate migration” due to changes in summer average temperatures and rainfall

Chicago: By 2100, depending on efforts made to reduce greenhouse gas emission, Illinois summers could feel like summers in east Texas or Arkansas today. Source: Hayhoe et al.

Potential wetland submersion by 2100

New Orleans: If the impacts of sea level rise on wetlands are not checked, metropolitan New Orleans could eventually sit on land almost completely surrounded by the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Image adapted from Carbonell and Meffert.

Southern California power plants vulnerable to a 100-year coastal flood with a 55-inch sea level rise

Image adapted from Herberger et al. (Pacific Institute)

Photo: ©NASA

The confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers near St. Louis,

before the 1993 flood (left) and after (right)

Photo: © Flickr user ke6ywg

Pier 14 in San Francisco on February 17, 2011, during a high-tide event

Photo: © Flickr user mindfrieze

Dense development along the Chicago River is vulnerable to increased flooding

Photo: © Flickr user Ed Yourdon

The High Line re-purposed a piece of industrial infrastructure as public green space, reducing the amount of stormwater that runs off the site into the sewer system

Green Roof of Chicago Cultural Center

Photo: © Flickr user zolt