Travis Essinger on Unsplash
Green Bay's CityDeck with the Peacemaker tall ship docked at the Cherry Street boat landing, 2014. By Chris Rand, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Climate change impacts are projected to affect cities, rural and coastal communities, and tribes in the Great Lakes. Higher temperatures, more variable precipitation patterns, and changes in lake levels will likely increase vulnerability to extreme events (including flooding, drought, heat waves, and more intense urban heat island effects), compounding non-climate stressors such as economic downturns, shrinking cities, and deteriorating infrastructure.
Higher temperatures, more variable precipitation patterns, and changes in lake levels are likely to increase the vulnerability of human systems in the Great Lakes—including cities, rural and coastal communities, and tribes—to extreme events such as flooding, drought, heat waves, and more intense urban heat island effects. These impacts will compound already existing non-climate stressors such as economic downturns, shrinking cities, and deteriorating infrastructure. Vulnerable communities and tribal nations in the region may be disproportionately affected.
