ICYMI: Communities Welcome New Climate Resilience Portal to Help Navigate Extreme Weather
Across America, local news outlets are reporting on the Biden-Harris Administration’s launch of a website that, for the first time, provides a live dashboard to help communities see extreme weather and other hazards from climate change they are facing, while also providing maps projecting how each community could be impacted in the future. The new Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation portal will help state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments and leaders better track real-time impacts and access federal resources for long-term planning.
Yesterday, Administration officials joined Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to announce this new website, which provides accessible and interactive tools on extreme heat, drought, wildfires, flooding, and other climate impacts.
Read below for a sample of coverage:
Northwest News Network: Biden administration launches website to provide real-time climate data, predict future scenarios
The website, known as Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, or CMRA, will help community leaders better plan for climate-related hazards, officials said. The website and corresponding maps streamline the federal government’s data at the national-level down to the census tract-level. Maps and charts show various climate hazards and potential future conditions under low- and high-emission scenarios for heat-trapping greenhouse gasses.
The Sacramento Bee: As climate change throttles California, new U.S. tool lets people see the long-term impact
The Biden Administration on Thursday unveiled a new website intended to provide localities, agencies and individuals with a clear look at the current and future impacts of climate change. The announcement comes on the heels of a historic heat wave in California, amid a drought that is devastating the western states, and after a summer that saw extreme flooding in many parts of the country.
Arizona PBS: Climate tool brings the bad news; advocates hope that brings good outcomes
“We are spending tens of millions of dollars on climate resilience … and this tool will help me understand where are the most effective places to put these dollars,” [Phoenix Mayor Kate] Gallego said Thursday.
Idaho Capital Sun: New government tool shows Idaho and other states’ climate-related risks, projections
The web-based tool, called Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, contains information about current climate trends and projections through 2099, including risks such as expected revenue losses, annual number of dry days and consecutive wet days, and average daily minimum and maximum temperatures.
KATU ABC Oregon: New national climate resilience tool predicts natural disaster likelihood
Benton County Emergency Manager Bryan Lee said the tool can be useful locally to help inform emergency managers on what risk models to take into consideration. “We can use this tool to help us develop our hazard risk assessments and then again just use that data out there, use the science out there from a reputable source to then use in our emergency plans,” he said. The tool also points out whether municipalities have building code restrictions in place based on their area’s risk.
KRCR ABC California: Extreme heat, drought and wildfires; White House introduces new climate mapping tool
The Assessment Tool serves to provide a glimpse at what is possible in the future under two different emissions scenarios. You can enter an address, and a large dashboard pops up, allowing you to explore the change of various important measures of climate impacts. You can explore this data for any individual census tract, county or tribal land. Benjamin Preston of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy noted that this is one of the first times that we are able to summarize climate information for these tribal lands.
New Mexico Political Report: New online portal shows climate change impacts
A new website launched this week is intended to help people visualize how climate change is impacting their communities and to help communities plan for and respond to climate change. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration announced the new Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation portal on Thursday.
Route Fifty: A New Tech Tool to Help Communities Confront Climate Risks
Besides climate data, the portal identifies disadvantaged communities that could be eligible for programs like Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to direct federal resources to areas disproportionately harmed by climate change and other environmental problems.
“We wanted to build a portal that is science-based, pulling together the best data on impacts that communities have historically faced, what is happening right now, and perhaps most importantly, what the future may hold,” said David Hayes, special assistant to the president for climate policy, during a press conference on Thursday.
Fast Company: These maps show how climate change affects your city in real time—and what will happen in the future
One map shows current extreme heat, wildfires, droughts, plus inland and coastal flooding. If you type a city or address into a separate assessment tool on the site, it shows current risks by census tract, and then spells out future hazards under two scenarios: What happens if greenhouse gas emissions quickly drop, and what will happen if they remain high. In Miami, for example, a map shows how much more of the coastline will go underwater in a high-emissions scenario. The dashboard also shows how much extreme heat and other hazards are likely to increase in each scenario. The site also includes links to help cities find federal grants to build more resilient infrastructure.