New Jersey's Bad Storms Getting Worse, Climate Change Reports Say

Having Hurricane Irma, Jose and Katia threaten the Eastern Seaboard all at the same time was considered a once-a-decade event. Imagine, however, if it happened every year.

It's not out of the question. Recently released reports on climate change say the chances of strong, damaging storms threatening the East — and even New Jersey — are on the rise.

A report developed by scientists from 13 federal agencies has concluded that there is overwhelming evidence of climate change, and it will have a large, adverse impact on the Northeast in the future.

Two impacts particularly noteworthy from the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Climate Science Special Report, released in June, were stronger storms and more flooding risks.

A report from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, entitled "2016: State of the Climate," makes similar conclusions, saying major indicators of climate change continue to reflect trends consistent with a warming planet.

"Several markers such as land and ocean temperatures, sea level and greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere broke records [in 2016] set just one year prior," according to the report.

The reports note that the possible trend has begun already. Besides Katia, Irma and Jose all threatening the East at once, New Jersey and the Northeast have had a series of storms — such as Superstorm Sandy and the heavy snowfalls in winter — that have happened at a frequency once considered unthinkable for the Northeast.

Tornado activity also appears to have increased. In June, the National Weather Service confirmed that two tornadoes touched down during a severe storm in Howell.

The weather service said the first tornado that was seen was taken by Brett M. Dzadik at the Home Depot. That tornado had wind speeds of up to 75 mph and a path of about 40 yards wide for about a half-mile, the service said.

The second tornado had maximum winds of 75 mph, the weather service said. That tornado caused the damage seen at Oak Glen Park, and traveled about three-tenths of a mile with a path about 25 yards wide, the service said.

Here are some of the reports' conclusions that come as a result of the warming planet, and how they impact the Northeast and New Jersey:

• Sea level rise: As sea levels have risen, the number of tidal floods each year that cause minor impacts have increased 5 to 10-fold since the 1960s. Rates of increase are accelerating in over 25 Atlantic and Gulf Coast cities, and tidal flooding will continue increasing in depth, frequency and extent this century.
• Warmer temperatures and extreme storms: The Northeast has seen, within the last few years, record-breaking, climate-related weather extremes. Greater carbon emissions has lead to significantly more warming, and temperatures will rise 2.5 degrees over next few decades. Since 1980, the cost of extreme events for the United States has exceeded $1.1 trillion.
• Weather extremes are becoming more common, and they're changing: Some storm types such as hurricanes, tornadoes and winter storms are also exhibiting changes that have been linked to climate change, although the current state of science does not yet permit detailed understanding.
• The frequency of intense hurricanes, however, is projected to increase in the Atlantic and could pose a greater threat to New Jersey now that the ocean temperatures are increase.
• Extreme snowfall in parts of the northern United States have increased since the 1950s. Winter storm tracks have also shifted northward since 1950, and tornado activity in the United States has become more variable.

"Human activities are now the dominant cause of the observed trends in climate," according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Climate Science Special Report. "For that reason, future climate projects are based on scenarios of how greenhouse gas emissions will continue to affect the climate of this century and beyond."

For more information on these reports, click here.