Some of the country’s most beloved national parks – including many across the West – could see substantial jumps in the number of extremely hot days in coming decades, according to a new report.
The nonprofit Climate Central analyzed data from the National Park Service and found that by 2050, the 25 most visited parks are likely to have five times as many extremely hot days – compared to recent decades. Climate Central defines extreme heat as a high temperature above the 99th percentile for the roughly three decade period between 1979 and 2012.
For example, Utah’s Zion National Park has four days annually on average above 92.4 degrees – its 99th percentile temperature. That could jump to 21 days, or even higher. Extreme heat can be dangerous for visitors, and can harm ecosystems and infrastructure. You can find the data for the other 24 most visited parks here.
Patrick Gonzalez is a forest ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley and former principal climate scientist at the Park Service. He said that climate change is already seriously impacting parks: melting glaciers, raising tree mortality, shrinking the diversity of bird species, among many other consequences.
“If we don't cut carbon pollution, climate change could heat temperatures across the national parks up to 9 degrees Celsius,” he said. “That's 16 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century in national parks in Alaska, and to a lesser degree in the lower 48.”
Such heat, he says, could melt all the glaciers in Glacier National Park, among other dramatic changes.
“Adaptation measures are necessary, but they are only Band-Aids,” Gonzalez said. “The published scientific research shows that cutting carbon pollution from cars, power plants, deforestation and other human activities is the only solution that reduces the cause of climate change and can protect ecosystems and cultural sites and all of the remarkable resources in our national parks.
“I hope that the love that visitors show for our national parks translates into meaningful personal action to cut carbon pollution and save our national parks for the future.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
