Northeast climate heading south
In forecasting the effects of global warming there are generally two scenarios, bad and very bad.
A study by the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment, a collaboration between the Union of Concerned Scientists and a team of independent scientists from universities across the US, plots the effects of global warming on the Northeast in two cases: changing to clean, renewable energy sources and continuing to use fossil fuels.
In the first scenario, temperatures rise 3.5 to 6.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, the number of days over 100 degrees in Northeast cities increases from one or two to three to nine, the number of days with snow on the ground decreases 25 percent and the frequency of extreme rainstorms increases ten percent.
In the second scenario, temperatures rise 6.5 to 12.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, the number of days over 100 degrees in Northeast cities increases to 14 to 28 and the number of days with snow on the ground decreases by 50 percent. One-to-three-month droughts increase from every two or three years to yearly, and three-to-six-month droughts increase from none or every 15 years to once every 10 years.