PDF version of this Overview section

The National Assessment Overview and Foundation Reports were produced  by the National Assessment Synthesis Team, an advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and were not subjected to OSTP's Information Quality Act Guidelines. The National Assessment was forwarded to the President and Congress in November 2000 for their consideration.

It is very likely that the US will get substantially warmer. Temperatures are projected to rise more rapidly in the next one hundred years than in the last 10,000 years. It is also very likely that there will be more precipitation overall, with more of it coming in heavy downpours.  In spite of this, some areas are likely to get drier as increased evaporation due to higher temperatures outpaces increased precipitation.  Droughts  and flash floods are likely to become more frequent and more intense.

Adaptation

There are substantial opportunities to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the benefits of climate change through adaptation.  Examples include cultivating varieties of crops, trees and livestock that are better suited to hotter conditions.  This report includes an initial identification of potential adaptation strategies, but an analysis of their effectiveness, practicality, and costs was not considered in this Assessment.