Climate change in Missouri

The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that "Missouri's climate is changing.

[1] In 2015, The Washington Post reported that "by the end of the century, temperatures in Missouri could be a lot like they are in Arizona right now — with between 46 and 115 days above 95 degrees per year".

[1] "Flooding occasionally threatens navigation and riverfront communities, and greater river flows could increase these threats.

In April and May 2011, a combination of heavy rainfall and melting snow caused a flood that closed the Mississippi River to navigation, threatened Caruthersville, and prompted evacuation of Cairo, Illinois, due to concerns that its flood protection levees might fail.

To protect Cairo, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway, which lowered the river by flooding more than 100,000 acres of farmland in Missouri.

The drought of 2012 narrowed navigation channels, forced lock closures, and caused dozens of barges to run aground on the Mississippi River along the Missouri shoreline.

More droughts would reduce forest productivity, and climate change is also likely to increase the damage from insects and diseases.

But longer growing seasons and increased carbon dioxide concentrations could more than offset the losses from those factors.

As the climate changes, the abundance of pines in Missouri's forests is likely to increase, while the population of hickory trees is likely to decrease".

Hot weather causes cows to eat less, produce less milk, and grow more slowly—and it could threaten their health.

Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II (Report).

doi:10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH21.—this chapter of the National Climate Assessment covers Midwest states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin).