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u.s. national park service (partnership)

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Why Melting Glaciers Matter to the Coasts

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This video demonstrates how melting land ice raises sea level, but melting sea ice does not. See how warming in far-away places like Antarctica matters to people on coasts world-wide. Teachers can repeat this demonstration with inexpensive materials. You can download the full resolution video at http://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=2EAFFECC-E1F4-DF0B-5EB0EFF45020AECA

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Four years ago, Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast with a record-setting 14-foot surge.

Winds gusted up to 80 mph, and tides were especially high due to the full moon. It wreaked havoc on the shores of the Northeast, killing at least 100 people.

When Sandy made landfall in Atlantic City on the night of October 29, 2012, the streets were flooded, power lines and trees were knocked down, and the city's iconic boardwalk was destroyed.
Here, on the fourth anniversary of its landfall, we take a look back at the destruction the dangerous storm caused on the coasts of New York and New Jersey:

27 photos of the destruction of Hurricane Sandy

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27 photos that show the destruction of Hurricane Sandy 4 years ago

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Four years ago, Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast with a record-setting 14-foot surge. Winds gusted up to 80 mph, and tides were especially high due to the full moon. It wreaked havoc on the shores of the Northeast, killing at least 100 people.

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A least three tornadoes have been confirmed following a series of storms that tore across eastern Iowa Sunday morning.

An EF2 tornado hit the town of Vinton early Sunday morning, bringing winds as high as 135 mph that left substantial damage in the town, the National Weather Service said. The tornado brought down a cell tower and ripped the roofs off several buildings, according to KCRG.com.

The NWS also confirmed tornado damage in Jackson and Scott counties. An EF1 with maximum winds of 100 mph was in progress in southern Andrew, leaving structural damage but no injuries, according to KWWL.com. The EF0 tornado produced winds as high as 80 mph in Park View.
(MORE: Damage, Ground Stops Created By Storms in the Northeast)
A man was reportedly rescued from beneath the rubble of his flattened home in Walford, Iowa, early Sunday morning and several other homes in the area received severe wind damage, according to a Twitter post by KCRG.

Brett Gioimo, 27, found himself trapped after strong winds caused his house to collapse, KCRG reported. After being freed by firefighters, Gioimo was transported to the hospital, where he was treated for injuries. He is expected to make a full recovery.

The fire department told KCRG that Ashlee Shill, 28, and two children ages 3 and 4 were able to get out on their own accord. Shill and the children were also transported to the hospital and treated for minor injuries.
MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Scenes from Deadly China Tornado in June

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Three Confirmed Tornadoes Leave Damage in Eastern Iowa | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

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A least three tornadoes have been confirmed following a series of storms that tore across eastern Iowa Sunday morning. An EF2 tornado hit the town of Vinton early Sunday morning, bringing winds as high as 135 mph that left substantial damage in the town, the National Weather Service said.

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California is hurting.

In response to the worst drought in our state's long memory, our public institutions-with one unfortunate exception-are stepping up.

Governor Brown and the legislature passed long-overdue groundwater and sustainable water investments through last year's $7.5 billion water bond. Local governments and water districts are launching conservation plans to preserve dwindling water supplies. The Obama administration is providing millions in emergency grants to drought-stricken communities and farmers.

But some in Congress have treated the drought as a political opportunity instead of a moral imperative. They've dusted off the same political agenda they've pursued for years: weakening environmental laws, gutting fishery protections, and redirecting water needed by other regions-and tried to sell it as a drought response.

With something as complicated and important as California water, we really should make sure everyone has a say. Last month I asked you to share your ideas for a congressional response to the California drought. After six weeks of unprecedented public input, I was proud to introduce the Drought Relief and Resilience Act (H.R. 2983) based on ideas and feedback from nearly 1,000 Californians. People weighed in from San Diego to Crescent City, Fresno to San Francisco, as well as farmers, environmentalists, fishermen, urban and rural Californians, and water managers throughout the country.

As a result of this significant public outreach, the Drought Relief and Resilience Act now includes significant technical changes and improvements throughout. The bill also features an entirely new section that will help homeowners weather the drought and reduce their water bills by providing a $2,000 tax credit for the purchase and installation of water-capture and harvesting systems.

My bill provides emergency funding to stretch existing water supplies: deploying efficient irrigation technology, drilling wells, and building pipelines. It also helps out-of-work farmworkers and combats upstream water theft on federal lands.

Scientists warn that future droughts will be more frequent and more severe due to climate change, and we need to prepare. My bill fully funds existing programs so we can quickly upgrade treatment facilities, repair leaking pipes, and improve urban and agricultural water use efficiency so we can become more drought resilient. It makes major federal investments to improve desalination technology and dramatically expand water recycling. It will help us recharge depleted groundwater aquifers and clean up those that have been contaminated by pollutants, and help us better manage headwater forests and watersheds.

We can't just keep lurching from one crisis to the next, and my bill helps us plan for the worst. We call in the National Guard when floods overwhelm a state, but when communities run dry we have no plans to deploy military resources-including mobile desalination technology. Disaster response agencies should start planning for the worst right now. Fisheries managers should prepare, too, for years of warmer, depleted streams.

My bill reflects four basic principles that should guide Congress in responding to this and future droughts:

1. Do no harm-ours is a complex system, and we should not redirect impacts or micromanage it from Washington.

2. No water wars-end attempts to gut environmental laws and take water from other regions. Solutions must respect environmental and water quality laws, and benefit every region impacted by this drought.

3. Think long-term-we should respond not just to the immediate crisis but build drought resiliency for the future.

4. Process matters-successful water initiatives require transparency, inclusiveness, and deliberation. Back room deals and secret water grabs invariably create more problems than they solve.

I've been reaching out to stakeholders, economists, farmers, conservationists, and California's top water managers to make my bill the best it can be. Before I formally introduce it, I'd like you to join them in giving your feedback.
Our water future deserves an open debate leading to real solutions.

Here's what major California newspaper editorials are saying about my bill:

San Francisco Chronicle: "Rep. Jared Huffman's 'crowdsourced' water bill is a radical departure from the water wars, backroom deals and water grabs of the past and reframes thinking about water... Finally, a realistic approach to our scarce and most precious resource."

Los Angeles Times: "The Huffman bill is starkly different and frankly much smarter, focusing on updating federal water policies and practices that today are firmly rooted in outdated, mid-20th century knowledge and technology."

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: "There is a better alternative: Rep. Jared Huffman's crowd-sourced drought bill. All interested parties are invited to participate, and Huffman's bill already includes one provision of the GOP bill: expedited review of new water storage facilities. "

Marin Independent Journal: "Huffman, who is using crowd-sourcing to reach out to constituents for ideas, is the co-author of a 140-page draft bill aimed at focusing on solutions, rather than longstanding political battles. Republicans should pay attention. California needs help to not only address its drought, but to deal with long-term issues, such as environmental protection and water conservation and quality."

Section by section factsheet:
Huffman Drought Bill Section by Section Summary
Read my full bill below.
Huffman Drought Bill
Huffman Drought Bill by on Scribd

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Responding to the California Drought | U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman

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California is hurting. In response to the worst drought in our state's long memory, our public institutions-with one unfortunate exception-are stepping up. Governor Brown and the legislature passed long-overdue groundwater and sustainable water investments through last year's $7.5 billion water bond. Local governments and water districts are launching conservation plans to preserve dwindling water supplies.

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Home " Records " Land Below Sea Level

Introduction:

Dozens of land areas of the Earth sit below current sea level. The lowest land area is the shoreline of the Dead Sea Depression in Israel, Jordan and Syria. It is approximately 413 meters or 1355 feet below sea level.

The largest below-sea-level depression by surface area is the Caspian Depression of Kazakhstan and Russia. It has an area of approximately 200,000 square kilometers or 77,000 square miles of land below sea level.

The ten lowest areas on Earth are listed below. We also have a list of 33 countries where land below sea level occurs.

Earth's Ten Depressions with the Lowest Dry Land:

1. Dead Sea Depression (Israel, Jordan, Syria)

2. Lake Assal (Djibouti)

3. Turfan Depression (China)

4. Qattara Depression (Egypt)

5. Karagiye Depression (Kazakhstan)

6. Denakil Depression (Ethiopia)

7. San Julían's Great Depression (Argentina)

8. Death Valley (USA)

9. Akdzhakaya Depression (Turkmenistan)

10. Salton Trough (USA, Mexico)

What Causes Below-Sea-Level Depressions?

Most major depressions are associated with tectonic plate boundaries. They form when converging plates deform or when spreading centers open. A few are volcanic in origin.

Most of these depressions are in the northern hemisphere for a good reason: this is where most of the land is and where most of the plate boundaries occur. Many are found in the vicinity of where the African, Arabian and Eurasian plates meet. Most are found in hot desert regions of the planet where high evaporation rates prevent them from filling with water. A few are found in high temperature climates.

Many well-populated places in the world are below sea level. About a third of the Netherlands including Schiphol Airport is below sea level. So too are the Jordan River and parts of many coastal cities including New Orleans and Bangkok, Thailand.

Other regions below sea level are the Enriquillo-Cul de Sac Depression ( Haiti and Dominican Republic), Chott Melrhir Depression ( Algeria), Sebkhet Shunayn and Sabkhat Ghuzayyil ( Libya), Shatt al Gharsah ( Tunisia), Lammefjord ( Denmark), Sebkha Tah ( Morocco), Hachiro-gata ( Japan), Sariqarnish Kuli ( Uzbekistan), The Fens ( UK) and Lake Eyre, Australia. Of the two hundred and fifty five recognized countries or protectorates in the world, 33 have land below sea level. Most of these are only a few meters down.

Some below-sea-level depressions are dry, most others have salt lakes. The lakes are undrained, which means water flows in but does not flow out. Since water cannot flow up hill, the lakes cannot empty into the sea like most do and so they accumulate salt (halite) as their waters evaporate.

Where does the salt originate? Some of it comes from ancient sea floor salt deposits that have been uplifted then weather and release the salt which reaches the depressions via rivers. Many other rocks weather to yield sodium and chlorine ions that are carried to the lake by rivers. The Sea of Galilee (Israel) is below sea level but is a freshwater lake because it drains into the Dead Sea through the Jordan River.

Owing to variations in rainfall, evaporation rates, and human water use, most of the lake levels fluctuate from year to year. Some have come and gone in historic times. The present Salton Sea (California, USA) was produced by a canal construction accident in 1905, though the lake has come and gone naturally many times in the last thousand years.

The lowest exposed land on Earth is at the Dead Sea shore, at -413 meters. The deepest lake bottom in a below-sea-level depression also belongs to the Dead Sea at -750 meters. Lake Baikal in Russia is at an elevation of 447 meters, but with a maximum depth of 1637 meters, its bottom lies at -1190 meters.

The Bentley Subglacial Trench in Antarctica reaches 2555 meters below sea level. It is the lowest point on Earth that is not covered by ocean, although it is covered by ice. The trench is huge, roughly the size of Mexico. The deepest point on the ocean floors is -10,916 meters in the Mariana Trench. Trenches are the upper most parts of subduction zones and there are dozens of trench locations that are more than 5000 meters below sea level.

Strictly speaking, most of the surface of the Earth is below sea level because oceans cover 71% of the planet. But sea level varies and during the Great Ice Age 18,000 years ago, sea level was 130 meters lower. Today, large areas are under water that during the Great Ice Age were well above sea level. It is also likely that long ago and far into the future, plate tectonics will produce higher mountains and deeper trenches and depressions than we have today.

The Ten Depressions with the Lowest Dry Land

1) Dead Sea Depression - The lowest point on Earth

Elevation: 413 meters below sea level (approximate and fluctuating)

Country: Israel, Jordan, Syria

Latitude/Longitude: 31°32′N 35°29′E

The Dead Sea Depression is an extensive area of land that is below sea level. It contains the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, a portion of the Jordan River, large areas of cultivated land and many communities. The shoreline of the Dead Sea is the lowest dry land on Earth. It is approximately 413 meters below sea level. However, this elevation is constantly changing. The surface of the Dead Sea rises and falls as precipitation, evaporation, irrigation, salt production and other natural and human activities consume the water of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea and its tributaries.

2) Lake Assal (in the Afar Depression)

Elevation: 155 meters below sea level (approximate and fluctuating)

Country: Djibouti

Latitude/Longitude: 11°39′N 42°25′E

The shoreline of Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and the second lowest location on Earth. Lake Assal is located in the Afar Depression which is formed at a triple junction of tectonic plates (Indian, African and Arabian). The relative motion of these plates produces a divergence that results in a lowering of Earth's surface. Lake Assal's water emerges from springs which are believed to be fed by groundwater flow from the Gulf of Tadjoura. This water evaporates rapidly because the climate there is one of the hottest and driest on Earth. This high evaporation rate makes Lake Assal the saltiest body of water on Earth.

5) Karagiye Depression

Elevation: 132 meters below sea level (approximate)

Country: Kazakhstan

Latitude/Longitude: 43°27′N 51°45′E

The Karagiye Depression is located in southwestern Kazakhstan. It has an elevation of approximately 132 meters below sea level.

10) Salton Trough

Elevation: 69 meters below sea level

Country: USA, Mexico

Latitude/Longitude: 33°19′N 115°50′W

The Salton Trough is the second lowest depression in the United States. The lowest land in the Salton Trough is along the shoreline of the Salton Sea. The lake level is approximately 69 meters below sea level; however, the lake rises and falls in response to runoff from the New, Whitewater and Alamo Rivers plus some agricultural runoff. The bottom of the Salton Sea is about two meters higher than the bottom of Death Valley.

* The elevations listed are approximate. For many of these depressions the lowest point is the shoreline of a lake where water levels rise and fall in elevation in response to rainfall, evaporation, use of water by humans and many other factors. CIA Factbook.

Thirty-Three Countries with Land Areas Below Sea Level

Israel

Dead Sea shoreline

Jordan

Dead Sea shoreline

Syria

unnamed location near Lake Tiberias

David K. Lynch, PhD, is an astronomer and planetary scientist living in Topanga, CA. When not hanging around the San Andreas Fault or using the large telescopes on Mauna Kea, he plays fiddle, collects rattlesnakes, gives public lectures on rainbows and writes books (Color and Light in Nature, Cambridge University Press) and essays. Dr. Lynch's latest book is the Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault. The book contains twelve one-day driving trips along different parts of the fault, and includes mile-by-mile road logs and GPS coordinates for hundreds of fault features. As it happens, Dave's house was destroyed in 1994 by the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake.

Find Other Topics on Geology.com:

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Home " Records " Land Below Sea Level Dozens of land areas of the Earth sit below current sea level. The lowest land area is the shoreline of the Dead Sea Depression in Israel, Jordan and Syria. It is approximately 413 meters or 1355 feet below sea level.

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HugeDomains.com - Shop for over 300,000 Premium Domains

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Beavers to the California drought rescue

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The California beavers are back. The little ecosystem engineers that were nearly wiped out in the 1800s may use their dam-building skills to help the parched state redirect water in streams.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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(Image: © by Ross Toro, Infographics Artist)

Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in United States history. In the U.S., Sandy killed 117 people from Oct. 28 through Nov. 30, 2012. In total, 286 people globally are said to have died from the storm.

Tropical storm force winds extended over an area more than 1,000 miles in diameter. Peak winds measured near 100 miles per hour over the Gulf Stream, approximately 220 miles south of Atlantic City, N.J.

At its height of intensity, just over Cuba, Hurricane Sandy clocked in as a Category 3 storm. In the United States, 24 states experienced a range of storm effects, including wind, rain, flood, coastal surge and blizzards.

Sandy caused water levels to rise along the entire East Coast of the U.S., ranging from Florida to Maine. The highest storm surges occurred in the states of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Millions were affected across five Caribbean nations (Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico). Sandy was blamed for 117 U.S. deaths and damaged 200,000 homes.

In the U.S., power outages affected more than 8 million residents.

Costs have been estimated at more than $50 billion, second only to Hurricane Katrina as the nation's costliest natural disaster. In New York City, loss estimates exceed $19 billion -- with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority sustaining roughly $5 billion in damages to the city's infrastructure and lost revenue.

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(Image: © by Ross Toro, Infographics Artist) Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in United States history. In the U.S., Sandy killed 117 people from Oct. 28 through Nov. 30, 2012.

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Important landmarks you may want to mention as you drive through the states...

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Important landmarks you may want to mention as you drive through the states...

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The Famous Landmark You Must See in Each of the 50 States

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From coast to coast, the United States of America brims with diversity. Check out our picks for the top landmark from each of the 50 states, in order of statehood.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDZWWcAfn-c&feature=youtu.be

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfbNWFBr5g8

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Which cities will feel the effects of climate change the most?

weather.com looked at six factors ranging from extreme precipitation to sea-level rise to determine which places across our country will get hit the hardest. Here, we present our top 25.

"There are so many different ways that people will feel the impact of climate change," says David Easterling, Ph.D., of NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information. Sea-level rise and flooding. Extreme heat and drought. Extreme precipitation events. Which events matter and how much depends on which part of the country you're referencing, too.

In the face of growing evidence about the effects of climate change - recently bolstered by a study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showing there's been no slowdown in global warming, despite the popular "hiatus" theory - the future landscape looks quite different from today. "The warmest day that we'd see in 20 to 30 years, the record temperature at that time would have no precedent," explains Michael Mann, Ph.D., director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. "New records would exceed old records and typical conditions [would] start to resemble what we today consider 'extreme.'"

Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., a climate scientist based out of Texas Tech University, works with cities on their climate preparedness. She said many local governments are much more aware of and proactive about climate change today. "Ten years ago, it used to be a city wouldn't really have seen anything happen unless it was a city in Alaska," she said. "Now, they already have a list of ways they're being impacted by changing climate. All of the impacts are tied to services or infrastructure."

With that notion as our backdrop, we decided to take a look at which 25 cities across the United States will face the greatest challenges from climate change, resulting in The weather.com Climate Disruption Index. We started with cities with a population greater than 200,000 people, then factored in sea-level rise, extreme precipitation and drought, urban heat islands, and changes to average temperature and precipitation, giving more weight to certain factors. (See below for a full and detailed methodology.)

We learned a great deal through this process, namely that where you live, who you are and what you do for a living will likely determine how much certain issues matter to you. "If you're a farmer, then extreme drought is probably the thing you're going to care the most about. A reservoir manager cares about extreme flooding," Mann said, who noted that with a process like this, "there's almost as much art [to it] as science." We also learned we're limited by the datasets available, a notion Thomas Wilbanks, Ph.D., of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory said plagues anyone attempting such an assessment.

"Basically," Wilbanks wrote in an email, "you are struggling with the same issues that the research community is focusing on, trying to do your best with data sources that are far from ideal." To that end, not all the scientists we spoke with agreed with our methodology or our final list. See the Q&A with Hayhoe and Mann for details about their opinions on this list. Our hope is to spur conversation about climate change and cities, not offer a be-all end-all ranking.

25. Newark, New Jersey
Population: 278,427
Like much of the northeast, from West Virginia and Maryland north, extreme precipitation events are projected to increase significantly. That, coupled with a slight increase in drought, brought this well-known Jersey city onto our list.

24. Anchorage, Alaska
Population: 300,950
In the most extreme scenario, Alaska's largest city is likely, in general, to get wetter in both winter and springtime, resulting in fewer drought-like conditions. Sea-level rise is also a potential factor, but not as much as for some other cities.

23. Madison, Wisconsin
Population: 243,344
For Madison, flood risk isn't a factor. But an increase in extreme precip - not as much as in the northeast but still an increase - plus changes to extreme drought earn this midwest city a spot on the list.

17. St. Louis, Missouri
Population: 318,416
Number 17 is another Midwestern city, St. Louis. Here, the urban heat island factor is the biggest, namely because of its inland location and the fact that the land-sea breeze doesn't play a role like it does with some coastal cities. Toward the end of the century, according to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, under the most extreme scenario, the city could experience an entire summer of days 90 degrees or hotter, with 43 of those days breaking 100.

15. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Population: 305,841
Steel City is number 15 on the list. Like much of the northeast, extreme precipitation is expected to increase significantly across the entire state of Pennsylvania, and the urban heat island effect will have some impact here. Starting in 2013, the city began to address the issue with an initiative called Cool Roofs, which paints the tops of city buildings white to reflect rather than absorb the sun the way a black roof would.

13. Portland, Oregon
Population: 609,456
Portland has a reputation as a temperate locale, not too hot, not too cold. But in reality, the urban heat island effect makes it up to 19 degrees hotter in the summer than nearby places. Couple that with changes to extreme precipitation and drought, and this west coast city lands at spot 13. The city isn't taking lightly these issues, implementing programs to counter the heat island problem such as roof gardens and reducing the square mileage of its rooftops and pavement.

12. Baltimore, Maryland
Population: 622,104
With trends in extreme precipitation slated to increase significantly along the East Coast, and the threat of risk from future floods and sea-level rise, Baltimore could face some challenges from climate change. By 2050, according to Climate Change Maryland, the state could see another foot of sea-level rise; by century's end, that could triple to three feet, "contributing to higher storm wave heights, greater flooding in low-lying coastal areas, exacerbated shoreline erosion and damage to property and infrastructure."

11. Buffalo, New York
Population: 258,959
This New York city 20 miles from Niagara Falls and nearby suburbs experienced more than 7 feet of lake effect snow during the fall of 2014. It's this type of extreme precipitation event that will continue to increase across the region. It will also be up to 24 degrees warmer in Buffalo than its surrounds.

6. Boston, Massachusetts
Population: 645,966
The winter of 2015 was the snowiest winter on record for Boston, with 110 inches of accumulation. More extreme precipitation events like that are expected across Massachusetts and up and down the eastern seaboard - the same areas potentially in trouble from rising sea levels and future storms. The city has implemented programs like Grow Boston Greener (planting 100,000 trees by 2020) and Boston Complete Streets (incorporating green design into city planning) in an effort to head off some of the trouble.

5. Kansas City, Missouri
Population: 467,007
No risk from sea-level rise in this city in the middle of the country. What's in play, though, is heat in the form of urban heat islands and extreme drought. The city will see 20 more days above 90 degrees than its rural counterparts, according to Climate Central, plus more drought in the coming years. " Average annual temperatures have risen, accompanied by a number of major heat waves in the last few years," the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in 2009, about the Midwest in general. "There have been fewer cold snaps, and ice and snow are melting sooner in the spring and arriving later in the fall. Heavy rains are occurring about twice as frequently as they did a century ago, increasing the risk of flooding."

4. New York, New York
Population: 8,405,837
As Hurricane Sandy demonstrated, New York City isn't immune from the impact of large Atlantic hurricanes; in fact, it could be in the line of fire more frequently in the future, with extreme precipitation increases coming. Plus, sea levels along the state's coast are projected to increase anywhere from 18 to 75 inches by the end of the century. "Damage threatens not only communities and infrastructure," the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation writes, "but also critical ecosystems that buffer against floods, protect drinking water and provide habitat for important species." Caption: Hurricane Sandy, which caused a blackout for much of lower Manhattan (above), also resulted in massive flooding in the city. Add to that sea-level rise and more extreme precip and New York earns spot #4. (Afton Almaraz/Getty Images)

3. Las Vegas, Nevada
Population: 603,488
Sin City is already synonymous with sizzling hot days, embodied by images of blazing roads and scorched, barren earth. Here the urban heat island effect is at its worst, with the greatest difference in temperatures between the city and nearby areas of any Climate Central analyzed. Drought is getting worse, too, as heat slowly creeps upward. "Over the last century, the average annual temperature has increased about 1.5°F" in the southwest, according to the EPA. "Average annual temperature [in this region] is projected to rise an additional 2.5-8°F by the end of the century."

2. Minneapolis, Minnesota
Population: 400,070
Minneapolis could get pummeled from a lot of different angles, making it number 2 on our list. The city itself will be a good deal hotter than rural places close by. It has seen precipitation increase by almost 40 percent since 1958, a trend expected to continue. Drought here will also continue to worsen. The city isn't waiting around for these changes; in 2013, it implemented a sustainability plan that includes reducing energy consumption by 17 percent and using renewable forms of energy to meet 10 percent of its needs by 2025.

1. New Orleans, Louisiana
Population: 378,715
New Orleans is losing ground, fast: Almost 1,900 square miles have disappeared in less than a century. This threatens the region's people and places. "Large numbers of cities, roads, railways, ports, airports, oil and gas facilities and water supplies [in Louisiana] are at low elevations and potentially vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise," notes a White House Fact Sheet. "New Orleans, with roughly half of its population living below sea level, is especially at risk."

Add to that the fact the Big Easy is situated directly in the line of hurricanes and it's number 1 on our list. "If you're a coastal city, you're vulnerable to hurricanes and typhoons. If there were no hurricanes, maybe Miami or New Orleans would be okay for 50 years or 100 years. But if they get knocked over by a storm surge...." Hayhoe trailed off. "New Orleans," she later said, "is in the right spot." Caption: When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005 (above), it flooded 80 percent of the city. (POOL/AFP/Getty Images)

We started by taking the top 100 cities across the United States with a population of 200,000 people or more, based on 2013 U.S. Census data, the most recent data available at the time. We opted to focus on city proper rather than county or region, another way the Census can be broken down. From there, we looked at six factors affecting cities, weighted differently:

1. Sea-level rise (2.0, with an additional multiplier for cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, to account for potential effects from hurricanes)
2. Extreme precipitation (1.0)
3. Extreme drought (1.0)
4. Urban heat islands/extreme heat (1.0, with an additional multiplier for inland cities, to account for land-sea breeze effect)
5. Average temperature changes (0.5)
6. Average precipitation changes (0.5)

1. Sea-level rise. There are many ways to look at sea-level rise. We used a dataset from the World Bank that focused on future flood losses, in millions and billions of dollars, in major cities (as detailed in this Nature Climate Change paper from 2012). The paper itself offered two projections, 20 cm sea-level rise and 40 cm sea-level rise by the year 2050, with no mitigations efforts, some adaptation, and much adaptation. We looked at worst-case scenario: 40 cm sea-level rise with no adaptation. We came to this decision because New York City and several other cities could see as much as 2 feet of sea-level rise (61 cm). We weighted sea-level rise at 2.0, and added a multiplier of 2 for any cities along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts to account for costs related to possible storm surge.

2. Extreme precipitation. "Increases in extreme precipitation are projected for all U.S. regions." That's how the "Heavy Downpours" section of the National Climate Assessment begins. This is particularly true for the northeastern part of the country, which saw 71 percent more precipitation in the heaviest 1 percent of downpour events from 1958 to 2012, a trend expected to continue. Given this fact, we opted to include extreme precip as one of our factors, using data from The National Climate Assessment, simplified by state in this map (found on the website of an organization called Great Lakes Integrated Sciences + Assessments or GLISA).

3. Extreme drought. For extreme drought, we used a dataset provided to us by Katharine Hayhoe and Sharmistha Swain from Texas Tech University published in the journal Climate Dynamics in January 2014 that looked at drought conditions during springtime for three time periods (2020-2039, 2050-2069 and 2080-2099) and for three different climate scenarios (RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5). We opted to use the map that considered RCP 8.5 for the timeframe 2050-2069, to align with the timeline of the data for future flood loss.

4. Urban heat islands. This concept, at its simplest, means that a city is warmer than its surrounding rural areas. Climate Central conducted extensive analysis on this topic, detailed in the report, "Hot and Getting Hotter" from 2014. The nonprofit analyzed 60 of the largest U.S. cities and broke down its analysis in several different ways. With permission from Climate Central, we used the dataset that looked at average summer temperature difference, in degrees Fahrenheit. Based on guidance from several researchers we spoke with, we added a multiplier for any inland cities to account for the effect of the land-sea breeze.

5-6. Changes in precipitation, temperature. After a conversation with David Easterling of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction, we decided that the best approach for precipitation and temperature change was to look at future predictions based on climate models rather than historical data. He pointed us to the National Climate Assessment, and more specifically the "Future Climate Change" section of the report and Appendix 3, which further breaks down the data. Page 756 offers temperature maps, pages 757 and 758 offer precipitation changes during winter and summer, respectively.

A couple notes about these two factors. First, we chose to consider wet places getting wetter and dry places getting drier as equally disruptive. We consulted with Nick Wiltgen, a senior digital meteorologist for weather.com, about this, and while he said this is a simplification (and offered another resource against which to compare this data) he said it was a fair route to take. Secondly, for both temperature and precip, the Appendix doesn't contain specific city lists or specific degree/inch numbers. Rather, based on Easterling's recommendation, we looked at the range changes showed on the pages listed above. He said this was a scientifically valid approach to take because a) the NCA itself includes many different analyses, and b) we weren't trying to determine specific numbers but rather determine a rank. We used RCP8.5, "the most aggressive emissions scenario in which greenhouse gases continue to rise unchecked through the end of the century," according to the USGS.

Once we analyzed each of these factors, we gave them a score, with 200, 100 or 50 being the most (depending on the weight of the category) and 0 being the least. When a scale wasn't easily determined, we used this formula, f(x) = (y2 - y1)/(x2 - x1) * (x - x1), provided by Benjamin N. Wilson, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Math department (also Michele's brother). It's an interval formula, for which y1=0, y2=100, x1 and x2 were the top and bottom of the interval being mapped, and x was the number we were trying to calculate.

Here's an example, using urban heat islands:

The top-most degree change is 7.3 (x2). The bottom degree change is 0.4 (x1). So the first half of the formula is (100-0)/(7.3-0.4) = 14.4927536

Let's say the temperature degree change we're looking at is 5.9 degrees. 14.4927536 x (5.9-0.4) = 79.7 (We rounded up, so in our analysis, this is 80.)

Finally, once we had a numerical value based on a point scale for each city in each of these categories, we added them up. The 25 with the highest total scores made our list. Along the way, we consulted with Michael Mann, Katharine Hayhoe, and David Easterling. Read a Q&A with Mann and Hayhoe here about their thoughts on our final list.

Written and Designed by: Michele Berger

Michele Berger is the Science Editor for weather.com. She was previously an editor for the environmental magazine, Audubon. Click here to follow her on Twitter.

Edited by: Kevin Hayes and Laura Dattaro

Special thanks to the following scientific advisors:
Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Atmospheric Scientist, Texas Tech University
Michael Mann, Ph.D., Director, Penn State Earth System Science Center
David Easterling, Ph.D., NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, Center for Weather and Climate

Cover photo: Water levels in Lake Mead in Nevada have dipped so low that places once underwater, like the former town called St. James, are now visible and parched. (Jim Sage/Flickr)

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The weather.com Climate Disruption Index

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Which cities will feel the effects of climate change the most? weather.com looked at six factors ranging from extreme precipitation to sea-level rise to determine which places across our country will get hit the hardest. Here, we present our top 25.

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Gilroy-Morgan Hill is located in Santa Clara County in Northern California. Like a few other California urban areas with the worst drought, extreme and exceptionally dry conditions were not recorded at all last year. Over the first seven months of this year, nearly 80% of Morgan Hill was engulfed in the highest level of drought. As a result, the region is among several with an increased risk of wildfire. Just last month, the Curie Fire burned around 125 acres. Local officials have enacted a number of restrictions to preserve the water supply. The area's nearly 100,000 residents are not permitted to wash vehicles or to clean pavement with hoses, for example. Restaurants and other establishments in the area are also required to serve drinking water only upon request.

ALSO READ: America's 10 Fastest-Shrinking Companies

Salinas City is the county seat of Monterey County, where nearly 5,000 acres burned this past June in one of several wildfires recorded in recent months in the county. According to the city's website, the Salinas Valley is the "Salad Bowl of the World," as it produces approximately 70% of the nation's lettuce. But as Salinas recorded just a fraction of the average 15 inches of rainfall usually recorded during the wet season, many crops will likely continue to suffer. More than 85% of the Salinas urban area was engulfed in exceptional drought through the first seven months of this year, on average.

Already at the end of January, in the midst of a traditionally wet period that usually replenishes reservoirs and groundwater supply, 63.7% of Hanford was experiencing exceptional drought. By the end of July, conditions deteriorated, bringing the average exceptional drought coverage to more than 85% of the region. Now, the risk of crop failure, water shortages and water emergencies is even more widespread. With higher water bills and increased strain on local industries, the impact the drought has had on residents is tangible. Growing unemployment among farm workers, for one, will increase the need for food and financial assistance during drought in the region, according to the Hanford Sentinel.

With nearly 90% of the region engulfed in a state of exceptional drought, Bakersfield's more than half a million residents are enduring the worst drought conditions among large U.S. urban areas. While the drought has persisted over multiple years, less than 40% of the urban area was enduring extreme drought and none of it was under exceptional drought last year, on average. According to the Bakersfield Californian, area residents were having difficulty curbing their water usage as early as February, with consumption rates increasing in some areas despite worsening drought conditions. At that time, the city seemed optimistic. With its relatively large population, the city has been able to justify shipping in water from other areas. Unlike most other California urban areas, Bakersfield has not imposed rationing or other restrictive policies.

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4. Gilroy-Morgan Hill, Calif. > Exceptional drought coverage (2014): 79.4% > Extreme drought coverage (2014): 96.4% > Population: 98,413 Gilroy-Morgan Hill is located in Santa Clara County in Northern California. Like a few other California urban areas with the worst drought, extreme and exceptionally dry conditions were not recorded at all last year.