Future Weather Trends + Infrastructure

Abstract

Climate data and observations show that Minnesota is experiencing consistent changes in weather patterns. This report explores how projections of future weather trends may exacerbate conditions, including but not limited to drought, elevated temperatures and flooding for the design and evaluation of infrastructure and buildings constructed by the state of Minnesota and local governments. In addition, the report assesses the potential of future weather events to weaken existing systems creating the need for intervention to maintain and increase the amount and quality of food and wood production, reduce fire risk on forested land, maintain and enhance water quality, and maintain and enhance natural habitats. Because the relationships between infrastructure, future weather trends and the human-natural systems of agriculture, water, forests, and built environments are complicated, the research team developed a framework to analyze the Social, Ecological and Technological (SETs) relationships within each system, creating a common “language” to analyze potential interactions between multiple complex systems (Chapters 3 and 4). This approach is crucial for decision makers to be effective at mitigating costs and avoiding maladaptation or making things worse from some resilience strategies.