text: Major report warns climate change could raise temperatures by 10 degrees By Ben Geman - Tweet A major draft federal report concludes that climate change is already affecting U.S. residents through heat waves, droughts and other changes, and warns that temperatures could increase as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit if global carbon emissions keep soaring. 
   
   The third National Climate Assessment, released Friday, said there’s “unambiguous evidence” that earth is warming, and that climate change over the past 50 years is driven primarily by human activity, especially from burning fossil fuels. 
   
   
   
   “Certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense, including heat waves, heavy downpours, and, in some regions, floods and droughts. Sea level is rising, oceans are becoming more acidic, and glaciers and arctic sea ice are melting,” states the draft report developed by a federal advisory panel. 
   
   
   
   “These changes are part of the pattern of global climate change, which is primarily driven by human activity,” adds the draft report, released through U.S. Global Change Research Program. 
   
   
   
   It also tallies regional effects of climate change in the U.S. 
   
   
   
   Environmentalists quickly seized on the report, which follows a separate federal announcement that 2012 was the hottest year on record in the lower 48 states, to call for more aggressive steps to drive down emissions. 
   
   
   
   “This could help restart a national conversation about climate change,” said Todd Sanford, a scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It gives us a road map for climate change. And the road is much bumpier if we continue along a higher emissions pathway.” 
   
   
   
   Carol Browner, President Obama’s former climate czar, said the U.S. has made progress in reducing emissions but more action is needed immediately. 
   
   
   
   “We can start with strict carbon pollution standards for power plants and we must significantly expand investments in community resiliency to protect people and the economy from the gathering storms — and floods, droughts, wildfires, and heat waves,” said Browner, who is now a senior fellow with the liberal Center for American Progress. 
   
   
   
   The report finds that U.S. temperatures will continue rising 2 degrees F to 4 degrees F in most areas in the coming decades, and calls for effort to increase resilience to changes that cannot be avoided. 
   
   
   
   But it’s unclear how high temperatures will climb. The report provides a range of 3 degrees F to 5 degrees F by century's end if global emissions are reduced sharply after 2050, and up to 10 degrees F if they’re not. 
   
   
   
   Average U.S. temperatures have risen roughly 1.5 degrees F since 1895, and more than 80 percent of that increase has occurred since 1980, the report concludes. 
   
   
   
   The report is just the latest broad study or statement by a scientific body to conclude there’s overwhelming evidence that global warming is under way and that human activities are a major cause. 
   
   
   
   For instance, the National Research Council, in a The report tallies the wide-ranging effects of climate change, such as water supplies stressed by declining runoff and increased risk of heat stress and waterborne disease, and notes that U.S. infrastructure is already being harmed by sea-level rise, storm surges and heavy downpours.It also tallies regional effects of climate change in the U.S.Environmentalists quickly seized on the report, which follows a separate federal announcement that 2012 was the hottest year on record in the lower 48 states, to call for more aggressive steps to drive down emissions.“This could help restart a national conversation about climate change,” said Todd Sanford, a scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It gives us a road map for climate change. And the road is much bumpier if we continue along a higher emissions pathway.”Carol Browner, President Obama’s former climate czar, said the U.S. has made progress in reducing emissions but more action is needed immediately.“We can start with strict carbon pollution standards for power plants and we must significantly expand investments in community resiliency to protect people and the economy from the gathering storms — and floods, droughts, wildfires, and heat waves,” said Browner, who is now a senior fellow with the liberal Center for American Progress.The report finds that U.S. temperatures will continue rising 2 degrees F to 4 degrees F in most areas in the coming decades, and calls for effort to increase resilience to changes that cannot be avoided.But it’s unclear how high temperatures will climb. The report provides a range of 3 degrees F to 5 degrees F by century's end if global emissions are reduced sharply after 2050, and up to 10 degrees F if they’re not.Average U.S. temperatures have risen roughly 1.5 degrees F since 1895, and more than 80 percent of that increase has occurred since 1980, the report concludes.The report is just the latest broad study or statement by a scientific body to conclude there’s overwhelming evidence that global warming is under way and that human activities are a major cause.For instance, the National Research Council, in a 2011 report , noted that climate change is “very likely caused primarily” by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. However, a substantial number of Republicans dispute the conclusion that human activities are the primary driver of climate change. 
   
   
   
   Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said in a statement Friday that he plans to vet climate science in the new Congress. 
   
   
   
   “I believe climate change is due to a combination of factors, including natural cycles, sun spots, and human activity. But scientists still don’t know for certain how much each of these factors contributes to the overall climate change that the Earth is experiencing,” he said in a statement Friday. 
   
   
   
   “It is the role of the Science Committee to create a forum for discussion so Congress and the American people can hear from experts and draw reasoned conclusions,” he said. The panel will have a hearing on the environment in coming weeks, according to committee aides. 
   
   
   
   While climate advocates are pouncing on the report, it’s unlikely to fundamentally change the politics of climate change on Capitol Hill, where bills to cap emissions or impose carbon taxes are moribund. 
   
   
   
   However, green activists are pressing for stronger executive actions, such as Environmental Protection Agency carbon emissions standards for existing power plants. 
   
   
   
   The broad new federal assessment was released in draft form Friday by the National Climate Assessment and Development and Advisory Committee, which is comprised of experts from academia, various industries and elsewhere. 
   
   The National Research Council will review the draft, which is also open for public comment. 
   
   
   
   The report was crafted under the Global Change Research Act of 1990, which requires wide-ranging climate reports to the president and Congress. This post was updated at 5:34 p.m. on Jan. 12 
   
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   U.S. Will Be 2-4 Degrees Hotter In Coming Decades, New Climate Report Says 
   
   i itoggle caption NOAA NCDC/CICS-NC NOAA NCDC/CICS-NC 
   
   Temperatures will continue to rise in America, "with the next few decades projected to see another 2 degrees [Fahrenheit] to 4 degrees [Fahrenheit] of warming in most areas," according to the latest National Climate Assessment, which came out Friday afternoon. 
   
   That means we can expect to see more "extreme weather events," according to the report, such as heavy precipitation — particularly in the Northeast and Midwest — and intense Atlantic hurricanes. Other parts of the U.S. will experience heat waves and droughts, especially in the West. 
   
   By 2100, U.S. temperatures are projected to rise 3 to 5 degrees, under the most optimistic estimates — and 5 to 10 degrees if global greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase. 
   
   While it doesn't seem to bring any startling new facts to the table, the assessment's authors say that "evidence for a changing climate has strengthened considerably" since the last report, issued in 2009. 
   
   Some of that evidence has been on display recently. Earlier this week, we were told that 2012 was the hottest year on record for most of the U.S. The year's weather, marked by droughts and powerful storms, led NPR's Adam Frank to call 2012 "the year that climate change got real for Americans." 
   
   Seeking to highlight the everyday effects of those changes, the report's advisory committee included a "Letter to the American People," in which they laid out some of the ways the changing weather has begun to affect livelihoods and futures: 
   
   "Many more impacts of human-caused climate change have now been observed. Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont have observed changes in their local climate that are outside of their experience. So, too, have coastal planners from Florida to Maine, water managers in the arid Southwest and parts of the Southeast, and Native Americans on tribal lands across the nation." 
   
   The 1,193-page report, the work of more than 240 scientists, is in "draft" form; it has been released for three months of review and comment by other scientists and the public. That review period will begin Monday. 
   
   "This could help restart a national conversation about climate change," writes Todd Sanford, of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It gives us a road map for climate change. And the road is much bumpier if we continue along a higher emissions pathway." ||||| Residents of Ogden, Utah, clear snow after close to a foot fell in the area Friday. A federal report on climate change described devastating weather linked to global warming. (Nick Short, Associated Press / ) 
   
   WASHINGTON — The impacts of climate change driven by human activity are spreading through the United States faster than had been predicted, increasingly threatening infrastructure, water supplies, crops and shorelines, according to a federal advisory committee. 
   
   The draft Third National Climate Assessment, issued every four years, delivers a bracing picture of environmental changes and natural disasters that mounting scientific evidence indicates is fostered by climate change: heavier rains in the Northeast, Midwest and Plains that have overwhelmed storm drains and led to flooding and erosion; sea level rise that has battered coastal communities; drought that has turned much of the West into a tinderbox. 
   
   "Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," the report says. "Americans are noticing changes all around them. Summers are longer and hotter, and periods of extreme heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced. Winters are generally shorter and warmer." 
   
   Written by 240 scientists, business leaders and other experts, the draft assessment arrives days after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its annual State of the Climate Report, which noted that 2012 was the hottest year on record. Together, the two major reports and a year of drought, wildfires, floods and freak storms have created for President Obama the chance to take substantial steps on climate change, environmentalists said. 
   
   The report explicitly addresses the most controversial question in the global warming issue, saying that consumption of fossil fuels by humans is the main driver of climate change. 
   
   "The findings in the report are a three-alarm fire," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills). "Climate change is already causing widespread disruption across the nation. We are in deep trouble if we don't act forcefully this year." 
   
   But with the White House working on so many economic, foreign and domestic policy fronts, it remains unclear if the president will speak up more on climate, let alone spearhead new initiatives. 
   
   The Obama administration has implemented several regulations to curtail emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists say have stoked global warming. But the president seldom speaks of climate change. 
   
   The White House declined to comment on the National Climate Assessment report, saying it had not had a chance to review it. 
   
   The report, issued by an independent, interagency group operating under the president's National Science and Technology Council, first came out in 2000 but went on hiatus during the Bush administration. It does not offer policy proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or to help specific communities adapt to climate change. Instead, it details the risks they face. 
   
   The Southwest, including California, produces more than half of the country's "high-value specialty" crops that are heavily dependent on irrigation. But a projected decline in snowpack and stream flow and increased competition for the water could threaten California's agricultural communities. Higher temperatures could disrupt regional electricity grids and create public health emergencies in Southwestern cities, where 90% of the region's population lives. 
   
   Flooding and sea level rise are already damaging some coastal California communities during storms and high tides, the assessment says, and water would come farther inland as erosion worsens. 
   
   The final assessment will be issued in early 2014. Public comment on the draft will be accepted until April 12. 
   
   neela.banerjee@latimes.com
target: – A federal advisory panel has delivered its assessment on climate change, and it's not pretty. Expect hotter temperatures and more "extreme weather events" across the US in coming decades, says the panel of 240 scientists and other experts, reports the Hill. “These changes are part of the pattern of global climate change, which is primarily driven by human activity,” says the draft report of the National Climate Assessment. (Read it in full here.) Some other highlights: It's a problem now: "Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," says the report. "Americans are noticing changes all around them. Summers are longer and hotter, and periods of extreme heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced. Winters are generally shorter and warmer." Severe weather: “Certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense, including heat waves, heavy downpours, and, in some regions, floods and droughts. Sea level is rising, oceans are becoming more acidic, and glaciers and arctic sea ice are melting." How much hotter? Most of the US will be 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit hotter over the coming decades, says the report. Under current emissions, temperatures could rise a staggering 5 to 10 degrees by 2100. The report does not make recommendations on how to fix things, notes the LA Times, but environmentalists and their legislative backers hope the forecast will prompt the White House to move. "The findings in the report are a three-alarm fire," says Democratic congressman Henry Waxman. The last assessment came out in 2009, and "evidence for a changing climate has strengthened considerably" since then, say the authors, reports NPR.