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American West average temperature rising, says report

April 16, 2008—The American West is heating up more rapidly than the rest of the world, according to a new analysis of the most recent federal government temperature figures. The news impacts some of the nation's fastest growing cities, which receive water from the drought-stricken Colorado River.

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For the report, the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) analyzed new temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for 11 Western states. For the five-year period 2003-2007, the average temperature in the Colorado River Basin, which stretches from Wyoming to Mexico, was 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the historical average for the 20th century. The temperature rise was more than twice the global average increase of 1.0 degree during the same period. The average temperature increased 1.7 degrees in the 11- state Western region.

The governors of Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington recently signed the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), an agreement to reduce global warming pollution through a market-based system, such as cap-and-trade. The WCI calls for states to reduce their global warming emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Conservationists say the states should commit to meeting these targets, and that there should also be a firm target of an 80 percent reduction by 2050.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and other leaders across the political and economic spectrum say more aggressive action is needed at the national level, pointing to the Lieberman-Warner bill, "America's Climate Security Act" (S. 2191) as the strongest global warming bill currently moving through Congress.

The NRDC-RMCO report, "Warming in the West," is available online.

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