Final Blog - Climate Change

This is the map from the first report that we received on January 26th. Medford is located right in the middle of the large grouping of physical and biological systems that were tested. The physical points represent snow, ice and frozen ground; hydrology; coastal processes. While the biological systems represent terrestrial, marine, and freshwater. Since most of the points are located near my region of study, and there were a total of 355 significant physical changes recorded and 455 biological changes recorded all due to warming, I would conclude that the overall climate will be drastically changing over the next ten to twenty years. This can also be shown from the map provided below, of overall temperature change over the last century in the United States. As you can see temperatures have drastically increased which is going to be effecting climate all of the nation and the world. I think that all of these changes are going to cause an increase in temperature in my area, maybe not drastically, but I would assume that an increase would be observed. This increase in temperature could cause less seasonality, due to the snow not being able to survive the warmer climates, and It may also help facilitate the evaporation of many local shallow water bodies which are providing moisture to the area year round.
 

After looking through report 2, and seeing what extreme event may occur due to climate change, I honestly do not think that Medford will be very much effected, besides a localized change in weather patterns. Rising sea levels would not disrupt any life in Medford because it is still an hour or so away from the western coast. Although, if sea levels were to rise drastically, Medford might see an increase in population. This is not an area of heavy cyclonic activity so that would not be a change seen. Although, the report states that mass precipitation may be seen in some areas due to the climate change. I think that might actually effect Medford because it is close to the coast. With rising sea leaves and warmer climates, this causes a higher rate of evaporation putting a lot more moisture into the air thus causing a lot more precipitation.

I believe that there might be many physical and economic aspects that might be effected by a drastic change in climate over the next ten to twenty years. I briefly stated them in the text above, such as population increased from migrating coastal cities which would flood the job market, making it hard for many people to find jobs. Although, this would bring more resources and money into the area which might benefit future development and the overall economic status of Medford. With this increase in population, one would see an increase in pollution. More people, driving more cars, more businesses opening up and so forth. A physical change seen would probably be evaporation of the local water bodies, which provide a lot of the summer months recreational activity. Also, this would make Medford rely on the increased evaporation coming from the coast for their rain fall during the year. The tallest building in Medford is around six stories so I would not consider this city very highly developed.

I do not think that Medford has any committees or has taken any drastic measures to account for the changing climate. It is still somewhat of a small city and its not very industrious, so the carbon foot print is not very large at all. I think measures that could be taken into account would be put through state wide, not necessarily through the Medford courthouse. They might try to bring the electric and hybrid car scene into a bigger perspective, such as adding in a few more dealerships with those types of vehicles and adding in charge stations throughout the city. Also, local photovoltaic companies could put more into advertising and try to get more people to install solar panels. This would mean that local energy companies would need to figure out a plan to compensate the grid for mass charging of new vehicles and solar panels which I do not think would take that much resources considering the size and population of Medford.

Blog 3 - Meso/Micro Scale and Overall Climate

Meso-Scale:
As stated in my previous blog posts, I think that Medford is influenced by orographic features. It sits in the middle of Rogue Valley and is completely surrounded by mountains and high hills which I think definitely effect weather conditions to an extent. It is about an hour or so away from the Pacific Ocean which would supply decent moisture to the area, hence the decent amount of rain seen each year. From the maps I have seen and weather websites I have visited, it seems that Medford is not greatly effected by cold or warm fronts and is lacking in the department of hurricanes. The main air mass effecting Medford is the Maritime Polar.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.richhoffmanclass.com/images/chapter8/airmasses_map.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.richhoffmanclass.com/chapter8.htm&h=325&w=410&sz=120&tbnid=baHgikeIJMrvaM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=106&zoom=1&docid=fHa7817RcUHpFM&sa=X&ei=mUyhT7aNPOjA2gXkrvC1CQ&ved=0CDoQ9QEwAQ&dur=737

Micro-Scale: (Naturally Occurring)
The naturally occurring micro-scale influences are very similar to what I stated above for meso-scale. Since Medford sits in a valley, I think that the moisture provided from the ocean gets trapped within the area thus causing more precipitation than if it was just a flat open area. Also, since these valley walls are decent in height, I think that they act as a wind barrier. Growing up, there was never an issue when playing games with thrown objects, such as gold, baseball or anything of that sort. Also influencing the annual precipitation are the vast water bodies located throughout and around the valley. There are many little lakes, rivers and ponds supplying moisture to the area.

Micro-Scale: (Anthropogenic)
From what I could find, the weather station sits near an open field in southwest Medford. This may be close to irrigated farm land which would cause a higher air moisture content, influencing the readings of the station. Some of the native species of plants in Medford are Biglead maple, Birthroot, Bleedingheart, and Camas to name a few. Some of the invasive species include Butterfly Bush and Scotch Broom. There is not much industrial activity in Medford, especially near the station, so I don't think it would have much effect on the daily readings.

From the Koppen Climate Classification Map, Medford seems to be Csb.

This was my first time creating these graphs on my new Macbook so I understand if I get marked off for incorrect X and Y axis labels. But I think the information portrayed is in order. It looks that the average high temperature for Medford seems to be somewhat constant throughout the last couple decades. The average low seems to fluctuate a lot which I think may be due to greater or lesser influences from Airmasses. I used average high and lows because I didn't find a suitable website giving January and July high and low temperatures in a reasonable manor.


http://weather-warehouse.com/WeatherHistory/PastWeatherData_MedfordExperimentStn_Medford_OR.html