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NCA5 Logo
    • About This Report
    • Guide to the Report
    • Report Credits
    • Companion Podcast
    • Additional Resources
    • About this Report
    • Guide to this Report
    • OVERVIEW
    • Physical Science
    • 2. Climate Trends
    • 3. Earth Systems Processes
    • National Topics
    • 4. Water
    • 5. Energy
    • 6. Land
    • 7. Forests
    • 8. Ecosystems
    • 9. Coasts
    • 10. Oceans
    • 11. Agriculture
    • 12. Built Environment
    • 13. Transportation
    • 14. Air Quality
    • 15. Human Health
    • 16. Indigenous Peoples
    • 17. International
    • 18. Complex Systems
    • 19. Economics
    • 20. Social Systems and Justice
    • Regions
    • 21. Northeast
    • 22. Southeast
    • 23. US Caribbean
    • 24. Midwest
    • 25. Northern Great Plains
    • 26. Southern Great Plains
    • 27. Northwest
    • 28. Southwest
    • 29. Alaska
    • 30. Hawai'i and US-Affiliated Pacific Islands
    • Responses
    • 31. Adaptation
    • 32. Mitigation
    • Focus On
    • F1. Compound Events
    • F2. Western Wildfires
    • F3. COVID-19 and Climate Change
    • F4. Risks to Supply Chains
    • F5. Blue Carbon
    • Appendices
    • A1. Process
    • A2. Information Quality
    • A3. Scenarios and Datasets
    • A4. Indicators
    • A5. Glossary

    • All Figures
    • All Key Messages
    • View All Report Downloads
  • Art × Climate
  • NCA Atlas
  • EN ESPAÑOL
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Fifth National Climate Assessment
Regions

The regional chapters (Chs. 21–30) assess current and future risks posed by climate change to each of the 10 NCA5 regions (Figure 1). These chapters provide detailed discussions of region-specific challenges, opportunities, and success stories for managing risks and impacts.

URL
Alternative text
A map of the Fifth National Climate Assessment regions shown in different colors.
A map shows the 10 regions of the United States used in the National Climate Assessment. These are Alaska, Hawai‘i and the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands, the US Caribbean, Northwest, Southwest, Northern Great Plains, Southern Great Plains, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast. Shading around Hawai‘i and the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands indicates the exclusive economic zones around those islands. Orange shading indicates Federally Recognized Tribal Land. These Tribal lands are found primarily in the Northern and Southern Great Plains, the central part of the Southwest, and in areas of Northwest, but some are also found in the upper Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast.
The Fifth National Climate Assessment explores subnational climate change risks, impacts, and responses in each of the 10 regions shown.
Figure 1. The map shows the 10 US regions that correspond to the 10 regional chapters of the report (Chs. 21–30). The same regional boundaries are used in text and figures throughout the Assessment to provide regional-scale information where appropriate. Adapted from USGCRP 2018.2

  • Chapter 21. Northeast
  • Chapter 22. Southeast
  • Chapter 23. US Caribbean
  • Chapter 24. Midwest
  • Chapter 25. Northern Great Plains
  • Chapter 26. Southern Great Plains
  • Chapter 27. Northwest
  • Chapter 28. Southwest
  • Chapter 29. Alaska
  • Chapter 30. Hawai'i and US-Affiliated Pacific Islands

Likelihood

Virtually Certain Very Likely Likely As Likely as Not Unlikely Very Unikely Exceptionally Unlikely
99%–100% 90%–100% 66%–100% 33%–66% 0%–33% 0%–10% 0%–1%

Confidence Level

Very High High Medium Low
  • Strong evidence (established theory, multiple sources, well-documented and accepted methods, etc.)
  • High consensus
  • Moderate evidence (several sources, some consistency, methods vary and/or documentation limited, etc.)
  • Medium consensus
  • Suggestive evidence (a few sources, limited consistency, methods emerging, etc.)
  • Competing schools of thought
  • Inconclusive evidence (limited sources, extrapolations, inconsistent findings, poor documentation and/or methods not tested, etc.)
  • Disagreement or lack of opinions among experts

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