Via Planetizen and Governing, here’s a map released by the Federal Government Accountability Office that shows the “economic impacts of climate change.”
Minnesota (or northern Wisconsin) appears on the map, listed as a place with “decreased cold-related mortality”:
Personally, I’m a dubious that cold-related mortality is a huge economic problem for northern Minnesota, but I looked up some of the numbers. It’s true that on average about 20-40 people die annually from exposure to cold, but the vast majority of these cases are drug or alcohol related, and aren’t even that tied to sever winters. I’m skeptical that warming winters will have a significant impact.
Rather, I’m guessing we’re much more likely to see impacts in northern Minnesota that resemble the Duluth floods of 2012, which washed out a huge amount of infrastructure all around the city. Or we might see climate change helping to spread invasive species like the mountain pine beetle that might have a terrible effect on northern forests.
(Not to mention the impending disappearance of half of Florida…)
You know, climate change might not be all bad. Did you know that while the average temperature in the Northern US has increased significantly over the past decades, almost all of that change has been in winter, not summer?
In fact, from the 2017 climate assessment: https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/6/
The average warmest day of the year (for the Midwest region) has dropped by 2.2 F from 1986-2016 compared to 1901-1960. Meanwhile, the average coldest day has increased 2.9 F. So looks like climate change has resulted in cooler summers and warmer winters thus far. Sounds miserable.
Check out figure 6.3 in the link above to see an in depth map.
I like winter. 🙁