Study key findings & significance

• It verifies that the main drivers of climate change since the last ice age are rising greenhouse gas concentrations and the retreat of the ice sheets.
• It suggests a general warming trend over the last 10,000 years, settling a decade-long debate the paleoclimatology community about whether this period trended warmer or cooler.
• The magnitude and rate warming over the last 150 years far surpasses the magnitude and rate of changes over the last 24,000 years.

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Study key findings & significance

• The study found that the 68% of the increase in vapor pressure deficit across the western U.S. between 1979 and 2020 was likely due to human-caused global warming.
• The findings suggest that human-induced climate change is the main cause for increasing fire weather in the western United States.
• The researchers analyzed the so-called August Complex wildfire of 2020, which burned more than a million acres in Northern California.

Study key findings & significance

• Temperature: Vermont is warming—especially winters. Average temperatures have increased by nearly 2°F since 1900. Winter temperatures have increased 2.5 times faster than average annual temperatures since 1960. 
• Precipitation: Vermont is getting wetter. Precipitation has increased 21% since 1900.