Here’s How Fast Northeast Ohio Temperatures Are Rising

CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County is not among the counties in the United States where temperatures have risen dangerously fast since the late 1800s, a new study shows. However, other Northeast Ohio counties are seeing temperatures increase faster than the national average. The folks at The Washington Post used more than a century of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration temperature data to examine more than 3,100 counties.

Seventy-one counties have seen the average temperatures increase 2 degrees Celsius, according to The Washington Post. That’s the threshold at which experts warn global catastrophic effects such as the elimination of most coral reefs and enormous sea level rise.

Cuyahoga County has gone up 1 degree since the late 1800s, just one degree under the +2.0 Celsius threshold, and in line with the 1.0 degrees Celsius average across the United States. Lorain County's temperature has gone up .6 degrees, Summitt County has gone up 1.2 degrees, and Lake County has gone up 1.5 degrees.

Already more than one in 10 Americans are living in rapidly heating regions, including Los Angeles, New York City and much of the Northeast, according to the Post. Rhode Island is the first state in the continental United States to eclipse the 2-degree Celsius increase.

The majority of the “hot spots” are on the coast lines. With the exception of Minnesota and Michigan, the Midwest hasn’t risen in temperature nearly at the same rates as the Northeast and West Coast.

“The only part of the United States that has not warmed significantly since the late 1800s is the South, especially Mississippi and Alabama, where data in some cases shows modest cooling, the Washington Post reports.

Read the full report.

Gus Saltonstall contributed to this report.