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2024 Hennepin County All -Jurisdiction Hazard Mitigation Plan <br />Volume 2 — Hazard Inventory <br />4.3.1.4. Potential for cascading effects <br />Climate change enhances some hazards, so please see chapters on Extreme Heat, Straight-line winds, <br />Extreme rainfall, and non -convective winds, to understand the potential cascades that climate change <br />may enhance or cause. <br />The most novel group of cascading effects to consider with climate change is when warm conditions <br />produce a meteorological situation previously unheard of or quite rare. Winter severe thunderstorm <br />events, for example, may be more likely as winters continue warming, but to occur, they would almost <br />certainly be accompanied by a powerful low-pressure system capable of producing plunging temperatures <br />and strong winds. Communities facing power outages, debris clean-up, and even search -and -rescue <br />operations may then have to face with cold weather hazards. <br />4.3.1.5. Geographic scope of hazard Blc <br />Climate change is a global hazard and influences weather and climate patterns in some way virtually <br />everywhere. In Minnesota, the greatest warming has been in the northern part of the state, and the <br />largest precipitation increases have been in the southeastern and central portions of the state. However, <br />the entire state of Minnesota, including all of Hennepin County is at risk from increased precipitation <br />extremes, more intense humid heat waves, and the seasonal expansion of severe thunderstorms and <br />heat. <br />4.3.1.6. Chronological patters (seasons, cycles, rhythm) <br />Warming is occurring year-round, though the most pronounced changes have been during winter. It <br />should be noted that the area's climate exhibits natural high variability, and that variability will continue, <br />even as Minnesota warms. It should also be noted that hazard risk does not necessarily follow the cycle <br />of greatest warming. For instance, damaging rains are far more likely in the summer than the winter. <br />4.3.1.7. Historical Data/Previous Occurrence Bld <br />The year 2012 may be thought of as a preview of the years and decades ahead. The 2011-12 winter was <br />warm and short, with bouts of 50s and 60s observed throughout Minnesota during January. March that <br />year saw 8 record high temperatures in Minneapolis, and 8 days above 70 degrees. Throughout the region, <br />March 2012 obliterated long-standing daily and monthly temperature records. <br />The warmth continued through the remainder of the spring and into the summer, with over 30 days above <br />90 degrees in parts of Hennepin County, and 2 days above 100 at MSP. This was the first summer with <br />multiple 100-degree readings since the summer of 1988. <br />Others may consider the late 2010s to be representative of the future, because: <br />Based on the Midwest chapter from the 2014, 2018, and 2023 National Climate Assessment, a review of <br />other recent research into the region, and analyses of quality -controlled, nationally standardized, and <br />publicly available data, the recent trends can be described as follows. <br />57 <br />