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New Yorkers flock to the waterfront once the weather gets hot, but sometime in the not-too-far-away future that water could be too close for comfort.
Last year, the New York City Panel on Climate Change released some grim news. The city's average annual temperature has risen 3.4 degrees since 1900, and from 1971 to 2000 the average temperature over the year was 54 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists predict a 4.1- to 5.7-degrees increase by about 2050, and it could rise as much as 5.3 to 8.8 degrees by the 2080s. Are you clutching your AC yet?
What's even scarier, though, is the same report predicted that sea levels in New York City will rise 11 to 21 inches by the 2050s, 18 to 39 inches by the 2080s and up to SIX FEET by 2100. Just think: with our ever-expanding lifespans, you could still be alive then.
So who will be affected? Landscape Metrics released an interactive map that tracks who and what would be rendered useless by rising sea levels. If the waters rose four feet, they would affect more than a million people, 225 schools and 204 transportation facilities. Check out a screenshot below, and play around with the project yourself here.
Photograph: Landscape Metrics
Hurricane Sandy was deadly and had lasting consequences for the city, and it seems we'll be facing similar challenges in the near future.
h/t CityLab