Report addresses climate change impact on Wisconsin

A Wisconsin panel has issued a more detailed report that looks at how climate change may affect specific parts of the state.

It's the first report from the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, a collaboration between the UW-Madison and Wisconsin DNR.

Jack Sullivan directs the DNR science team and helped with the new report. He says the forecast is for a warmer Wisconsin, with a six to seven degree increase by mid-century. And it’ll be a wetter region as well.

Sullivan says the report also considers ways communities can adapt to things like heavy rainfall, like making sure there's more green space to detain the water. But the report does not make policy recommendations.

Another climate initiative member is Lewis Gilbert of the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. He says the warming that's forecast for much of the state could lengthen the growing season for crops like corn and soybeans.

Gilbert says unlike some other climate change modeling, this report can make very geographically detailed projections.

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