PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 29, 2023
Sean Birkel, an assistant professor at UMaine and the state climatologist, created a website called the Climate Reanalyzer that provides weather and climate datasets and software and analysis tools for weather forecasts, climate models etc. He and his climate model were widely referred to last month when the Earth experienced its hottest week ever recorded. When he looks to the future, tapping the combination of datasets and models to see Maine’s projected climate through 2100, Birkel sees temperatures rising from 2 to 10 degrees and 10% to 20% more rainfall, depending on worldwide carbon dioxide emissions. Maine’s climate is going to change, getting both hotter and wetter, and the Gulf of Maine will rise. Maine faces significant challenges, but the state isn’t facing the potential catastrophe that looms for other parts of the world in the next 30 to 50 years.