Climate study finds Wisconsin 4th-fastest warming state

A new analysis of government weather data says Wisconsin is the fourth-fastest state in degrees-per-decade warming since 1970.

The group Climate Central has examined temperature records collected by the National Climatic Data Center. The center keeps data from about 1300 weather stations, the longest-running of which have been recording temperatures for about 100 years.

Climate Central spokesman Richard Wiles says in the past four decades, there’s been a fast acceleration of warming, especially in the upper Midwest. He says Wisconsin has averaged six-tenths of a degree increase per decade since 1970.

Wisconsin scientists have released their own reports in recent years and have predicted Wisconsin temperatures could start feeling more like Missouri’s, and that could lead to things like more frequent and heavier rains. Two years ago, Wisconsin lawmakers narrowly shot down an effort to reduce air emissions linked to climate change. Action on global warming is also deadlocked in Congress. Climate Central’s Wiles says not all governments are refusing to take charge.

Wiles says it isn’t clear why Wisconsin is number four in degrees per decade warming over the last 40 years. He says Wisconsin is one of the areas where the accumulation of greenhouse gases appear to be overwhelming natural temperature variation.