Here’s How Fast Alameda County Temperature Is Rising

Temperatures are rising in Alameda County, but we are not among the counties in the United States where temperatures have risen dangerously fast since the late 1800s, a new study shows. The folks at The Washington Post used more than a century of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration temperature data to examine more than 3,100 counties.

Seventy-one counties have seen the average temperatures increase 2 degrees Celsius, according to The Washington Post. That’s the threshold at which experts warn global catastrophic effects such as the elimination of most coral reefs and enormous sea level rise.

Fortunately, Alameda County is below the threshold. Here, the temperature has gone up 1.6 degrees since the late 1800s, but that's still more than the 1.0 degrees Celsius average across the United States.

Already more than one in 10 Americans are living in rapidly heating regions, including Los Angeles, New York City and much of the Northeast, according to the Post. Rhode Island is the first state in the continental United States to eclipse the 2-degree Celsius increase.

The majority of the “hot spots” are on the coast lines. With the exception of Minnesota and Michigan, the Midwest hasn’t risen in temperature nearly at the same rates as the Northeast and West Coast.

“The only part of the United States that has not warmed significantly since the late 1800s is the South, especially Mississippi and Alabama, where data in some cases shows modest cooling, the Washington Post reports.

Read the full report.

Patch editor Gus Saltonstall contributed to this report.

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