Minnesota’s winters are warming faster than nearly any other state in the contiguous United States, but according to a new study published in the journal of Earth and Space Science by researchers from across the University of Minnesota, summers are expected to heat up too.
Using resources at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, researchers performed county-scale model simulations of the climate across Minnesota valid for the middle and end of the 21st century using two different scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) for global emissions of greenhouse gases adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Results provide data from eight global climate model projections over 6 mile by 6 mile areas, which is much finer than most global climate models and will provide more detailed information on how temperatures and precipitation are expected to change at any location in the state.
This study was led by Dr. Stefan Liess, a researcher in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate and an affiliate with Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership. Other members of the research team include MCAP affiliate Dr. Tracy Twine, an associate professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate.
Dr. Liess was invited as a guest on MPR to discuss the results of the study.
