Climate change impacts are already evident in our region, and will become more marked in the near future.
Metro Vancouver’s Climate Projections Report details the projected impacts of climate change in this region, including:
- Warmer temperatures: with increasing daytime and nighttime temperatures, there will be more hot summer days and fewer winter days with frost or ice.
- Longer summer dry spells: summer rainfall will decline by nearly 20%, with increased likelihood of extended drought periods.
- Wetter fall and winters: although on average the total annual rainfall is expected to increase by just 5%, there will be a large increase in rainfall during fall and winter.
- More extreme precipitation events: more rain will fall during the wettest days of the year and the frequency of extreme rainfall events will increase.
- Decreased snowpack: the deep spring snowpack in the mountainous watersheds is expected to decrease by over 50% compared to present day.
- Sea level rise: in addition to these weather-related changes predicted in our region, warming global temperature is projected to bring at least 1 metre of sea level rise by 2100, which will impact coastal communities in our region.
The impacts of 150 years of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are also being seen around the world. Research suggests that if we rapidly reduce global emissions to net-zero, temperatures could stabilize relatively quickly thereafter. Every fraction of a degree of warming avoided by taking collective action to reduce these emissions will save lives and avoid damage to infrastructure and ecosystems, both locally and globally.