Authored by: 

• Roger A. Pielke, Sr.

Given Colorado's reliance on precipitation for agriculture and recreation industries, understanding natural variations as well as human-driven changes in climate patterns is a critical issue. Dr. Roger A. Pielke Sr. is the State of Colorado's Head Climatologist, and in this lecture he draws on his vast understanding of Colorado's climate to show past climate trends and comment on what the future climate may look like for Colorado residents. Pielke focuses in particular on the problem of drought explains how both natural processes and human behavior impact forecasts of future droughts. In his conclusion, Pielke suggests that in the absence of clear predictive capacity, we should assess future vulnerabilities, which in Colorado may include, flash floods, avalanches, insect infestations, and drought

Tags: 

• climate
• Colorado
• regional
• land-use change
• vulnerability
• measurement
• drought
• jet stream
• extreme events
• public lecture
• climate change
• global warming