Science Source

Schuster, Z., Potter, K., and Liebl, D.

Journal of Hydrologic Engineering

Published date August 1, 2012

Assessing the Effects of Climate Change on Precipitation and Flood Damage in Wisconsin

Uses statistically downscaled and debiased precipitation projections for the state of Wisconsin derived from 14 general circulation models (GCMs) to assess the projected precipitation changes for the mid–21st century in a way that is relevant to water-resource decision making
Analyzes metrics that are relevant to storm-water design, such as the 100-year, 24-h quantile, and the authors also evaluated the changes in a risk-assessment context using idealized damage functions that translate precipitation depths into economic damages
Results of the design-metric analysis show that the 100-year, 24-h quantiles for Wisconsin are projected to have significant but modest increases of approximately 11% over the next 50 years
Risk assessment shows that the largest percent changes in risk for Wisconsin are projected to be in the northeast portion of the state