Climate change in Michigan
Climate change in Michigan encompasses the effects of climate change, attributed to man-made increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that "Michigan's climate is changing. Most of the state has warmed two to three degrees (F) in the last century. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are becoming more frequent, and ice cover on the Great Lakes is forming later or melting sooner. In the coming decades, the state will have more extremely hot days, which may harm public health in urban areas and corn harvests in rural areas". The overall effects are expected to be widespread, mixed, and net-negative. A January 2013 'National Climate Assessment' study on the Great Lakes region, led by University of Michigan scholars, stated that climate change would have mixed but net-negative effects in the region by 2050. Specifically, longer growing seasons as well as higher carbon dioxide levels were predicted to increase crop yield but heat waves, droughts, and floods were also forecast to rise. The report predicted declines in ice cover on the Great Lakes that would lengthen commercial shipping season although the regions would also suffer from invasive species as well as damaging