Georgia Climate

The Georgia Initiative for Climate and Society brings together expertise from disciplines throughout the University of Georgia to share research on how our state will be affected by climate change.

Below are summaries based on the latest science of how different sectors might be impacted by climate change and tips of what you can do to support a sustainable future for Georgia.

Click on the images below to see how Georgia will be impacted by climate change.

Weather vs. Climate

Temperature

Precipitation

Agriculture

Forestry

Coast

Health

Cities

Source(s):

TEMPERATURE

National climatic data center. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.ncdc.noaa.gov.
U.S. global change research program. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.globalchange.gov.

Click below to view graph.

Annual Average
Temperature

Future Climate Shift

PRECIPITATION

National climatic data center. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.ncdc.noaa.gov
Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange, 2007 Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
U.S. global change research program. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.globalchange.gov

Click below to view graphs.

Annual Precipitation

US Precipitation Trends

Observed Changes in Precip from 2001-2007

Observed Changes in Precipitation

AGRICULTURE

Animal agriculture & climate change. (2013). Retrieved from animalagclimatechange.org

FORESTRY

The 28% number above comes from the Georgia Forestry Commissions, www.gatrees.org.
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, UGA, www.bugwood.org
PINEMAP www.pinemap.org

COAST

National climatic data center. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.ncdc.noaa.gov
Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007 Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
U.S. Global Change Research Program. (n.d.) Retrieved from www.globalchange.gov.

HEALTH

Ziska et al., Jallerg Clin Immunoal 2003; 111; 290-95;
Morgon G et al. Effects of bushfire smoke on daily mortality and hospital admissions in Sydney, Australia. Epidemiology. 2010 Jan;21(1):47-55
Sastry N. Forest fires, air pollution, and mortality in southeast Asia. Demography. 2002 Feb;39(1):1-23.
Hanninen OO. Population exposure to fine particles and estimated excess mortality in Finland from an East European wildfire episode. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2009 May; 19(4): 414-22
Kanatani, et al., 2010. Desert dust exposure is associated with increased risk of asthma hospitalization in children. Am J Respir Crit Care Med.
Kuo, H. , 2009. Indoor and outdoor PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in the air during a dust storm. Building and Environment Chen, et al., 2010. Ambient Influenza and Avian Influenza Virus during Dust Storm Days and Background Days. Environ Health Perspect
Curriero, Patz, et al, 2001.
McGeehin, M. A., & Mirabelli, M. (2001). The potential impacts of climate variability and change on temperature-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. Environmental Health Perspectives,109(2), 185-189. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

CITIES

Stone, B. J. (2012). The city and the coming climate: climate change in the places we live. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mills, G. (2007), Cities as agents of global change. Int. J. Climatol., 27: 1849–1857. doi: 10.1002/joc.1604