The Climate Challenge

Introduction                Letter               A Global Pandemic             Summary

The Climate Challenge

The warming of Connecticut’s climate threatens to undo much of the environmental progress of past decades that is illustrated in these pages. Nearly every environmental indicator in the 2020 Annual Report has a tie to global warming. As depicted in the charts below, the trend over the last sixty years suggests that the climate is getting warmer with more precipitation.²

The State’s warming climate is evidenced by increased annual average temperature, precipitation, cooling degree days (CDD) and decreasing heating degree days (HDD) since 1960.

Annual average HDD have decreased by approximately 11 percent while CDD have increased by approximately 26 percent since 1960. Degree days reflect changes in climate and are a proxy for the energy demand for heating or cooling.

 

The average annual precipitation since 1960 is 45.7 inches and the average number of days annually with precipitation over one inch has increased by approximately 14 percent. It is predicted that as the climate warms, severe weather events like prolonged drought and extreme rainfall will become more frequent.³

The average annual temperature since 1960 is 51.6 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) an increase of 5.3 percent. The average number of days annually with temperatures greater than 90°F is now 15.2. However, 2020 had 30 days greater than 90°F and since 2000, the average number of 90+°F days annually has increased to 16.5.

_{Technical Notes: *All weather data is for the weather station at Bradley International Airport (BDL). “Degree days are defined as the number of degrees by which the average daily temperature is higher than 65°F (cooling degree days) or lower than 65°F (heating degree days).” – GlobalChange.gov}

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_{2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service; w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=box.
3 Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP); portal.ct.gov/-/media/DEEP/climatechange/publications/BuildingaLowCarbonFutureforCTGC3Recommendationspdf.pdf}