Item 26 - Updated Hazard Mitigation Plan

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Hazard Mitigation Plan | 2022 Climate Change Hazards - 83 - Climate Change Hazards Hazard Definition “Climate change” refers to seasonal changes over a long period of time. It is generally perceived in the emergency management profession that climate change will have a measurable impact on the occurrence and severity of natural hazards around the world. Changes could include: • Sea ice and snow cover losses will continue, and declining snowpack will affect snow- dependent water supplies and stream flow levels around the world. • Sea level is projected to rise 7 to 23 inches during the 21st century due to melting snow and ice on land and thermal expansion of ocean waters. • The risk of drought and the frequency, intensity, and duration of heat waves are expected to increase. • More extreme precipitation is likely, increasing the risk of flooding; if the world’s average temperature warms only an additional 2.7ºF to 4.5ºF above pre-industrial levels, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of known plant and animal species would be at increasingly high risk of extinction. Climate change will affect communities in a variety of ways. Impacts could include an increased risk for extreme events such as drought, storms, flooding, forest fires; more heat-related stress; the spread of existing or new vector-born disease into a community; and increased erosion and inundation of low-lying areas along coastlines. According to the State of California Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (2018), climate change is already affecting California. Sea levels have risen by as much as seven inches along the California coast over the last century, increasing erosion and pressure on the state’s infrastructure, water supplies, and natural resources. The State has also seen increased average temperatures, more extreme hot days, fewer cold nights, a lengthening of the growing season, shifts in the water cycle with less winter precipitation falling as snow, and both snowmelt and rainwater running off sooner in the year. In addition to changes in average temperatures, sea level, and precipitation patterns, the intensity of extreme weather events is also changing.