Alabama
Global climate change poses risks to human health and to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Important economic resources such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and water resources also may be affected. Warmer temperatures, more severe droughts and floods, and sea level rise could have a wide range of impacts. All these stresses can add to existing stresses on resources caused by other influences such as population growth, land-use changes, and pollution.
Climate Change in Alabama
Below are some of the potential impacts:
- By 2100 temperatures in Alabama could increase by 2°F in winter and summer (with a range of 1-4°F), 3°F in spring (with a range of 1-5°F), and 4°F in fall (with a range of 2-7°F).
- The frequency of extreme hot days in summer would increase because of the general warming trend. It is not clear how the severity of storms such as hurricanes might be affected, although an increase in the frequency and intensity of summer thunderstorms is possible.
- In Alabama, production agriculture is a $3 billion annual industry, two thirds of which comes from livestock, mainly poultry. The major crops in the state are cotton, corn, and hay. Climate change could leave cotton yields essentially unchanged, and corn yields could rise by 7% or fall by 9%, depending on how climate changes. Hay yields are projected to rise 5-19%. Farmed acres are projected to fall 29-54% as a result of changes in farm production and prices. Livestock and dairy production may not be affected, unless summer temperatures rise significantly and conditions become significantly drier. Under these conditions, livestock tend to gain less weight and pasture yields decline, limiting forage.
- Alabama has a 600-mile tidally influenced shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico. The shoreline consists of a low-lying coastal plain, narrow barrier islands, forested swamps, and low terraces. Along much of the Florida Panhandle and Alabama Gulf coast, sea level already is rising by approximately 9 inches per century, and it is likely to rise another 20 inches by 2100.
- The low-lying Mississippi Delta is particularly vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise — flooding of low-lying property, loss of coastal wetlands, erosion of beaches, saltwater contamination of drinking water, and decreased longevity of low-lying roads, causeways, and bridges. In addition, sea level rise could increase the vulnerability of coastal areas to storms and associated flooding. sea level rise update
- If rainfall increases, runoff along the Gulf Coast and the rate of estuarine flushing are expected to increase, leading to reduced yields in shrimp and other species favoring high salinities.
The above are based on from the Environmental Protection Agency's report on climate change, which uses data from the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001).
For more info on climate change impacts in Alabama in areas such as water resources, agriculture, forests and ecosystems, you can download pdf of full EPA Report.
CO2: How Does Your State Rank?
Alabama is the highest emitter of C02 of all 50 states and the most populous.
Maps
See CO2 output by sector, coastal population maps, and maps of regional initiatives.
Regional Initiatives
This state does not participate in any regional initiatives.
Learn about climate initiatives in all U.S. states and regions
Your Impact
Estimate your CO2 footprint by using a carbon calculator such as the one on the Inconvenient Truth web site.
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