Impacts of Climate Change in Minnesota and the Midwest

Minnesota is already experiencing impacts from climate change, and will continue to experience impacts to our ecosystems, natural resources, and infrastructure.

Key Impacts in the Midwest:

• During the summer, public health and quality of life, especially in cities, will be negatively affected by increasing heat waves, reduced air quality, and increasing insect and waterborne diseases. In the winter, warming will have mixed impacts.
• The likely increase in precipitation in winter and spring, more heavy downpours, and greater evaporation in summer would lead to more periods of both floods and water deficits.
• While the longer growing season provides the potential for increased crop yields, increases in heat waves, floods, droughts, insects, and weeds will present increasing challenges to managing crops, livestock, and forests.
• Native species are very likely to face increasing threats from rapidly changing climate conditions, pests, diseases, and invasive species moving in from warmer regions.

The MPCA participates in the Minnesota Interagency Climate Adaptation Team, formed in 2009.  More detail on expected changes in Minnesota is available in the team's initial report, published in August 2010 and available on the Adapting to a Changing Climate page.

For a synthesis of regional, national, and global impacts, refer to these resources:

• Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States – US Global Change Research Program (2009)
• Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Assessment Report (2007)
• Ecological Impacts of Climate Change – The National Academies (2009)
• Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Midwest – Union of Concerned Scientists (2009)
• Health and Environmental Effects of Climate Change – US EPA
• Maps of Climate Trends and Projections in Wisconsin – Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts
• Regional Impacts of Climate Change: Four Case Studies in the United States – Pew Center on Global Climate Change (2007)
• Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region: Impacts on our Communities and Ecosystems – Union of Concerned Scientists and Ecological Society of America (2003)
• Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Canada – Natural Resources Canada
• The Corn and Climate Report – NOAA, US Climate Change Science Program, North Central Bioeconomy Consortium, Iowa State University (2009)
• Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure: Gulf Coast Study – US Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.7 (2008)