Climate Impacts Group

What happens when community members, organizations, and climate leaders from across the Pacific Northwest come together for a week of collaboration? New connections, shared ideas, and momentum for the climate work ahead! Our team at the Office of Sustainability and Environment co-hosted several PNW Climate Week events this year as part of updating Seattle’s Climate Action Plan, a blueprint for ho…

Are you a graduate student (master’s, doctoral, post-doc) or early-career professional (five years from a terminal degree) interested in understanding how climate equity and resilience connects to your research, work, or life?   The Climate Equity and Resilience Institute (CERSI) invites you to a transformative week-long program designed to deepen your knowledge and grow your community. Fr…

The deadline to submit applications for the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center’s 2027 Faculty Fellowship Program has been extended to August 31, 2026. The NW CASC Faculty Fellowship Program supports research related to climate adaptation in Northwest natural and cultural resource management as well as training in the principles and practices of co-producing decision-relevant (i.e.,…

The University of Washington is the third most highly cited organization in Carbon Brief’s ranking, with a score of 662,032. Its main divisions centered on climate change include the Program on Climate Change, the Climate Impacts Group, and the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science. 

Dear friend, With summer upon us and drought conditions continuing to develop across the Pacific Northwest, I am especially appreciative of the work of our team in the Washington State Climate Office, who provide credible, accessible updates on climate topics ranging from snowpack to predictions for El Nino conditions. And, personally, I love having climatologists a few doors away from my office …

There is a 63% chance that a very strong El Niño will develop by this upcoming winter. Previous El Niño tend to bring warmer and drier winters, but there are only a few of these very strong El Niño events in the historical record available for comparison. Deputy State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco is quoted.  

Despite the Puget Sound region’s reputation for abundant water, communities across western Washington are increasingly confronting summer water stress. Hotter, drier summers, declining snowpack, and rapid population growth are reshaping the timing and reliability of freshwater availability in the Puget Sound Region.  Over the next 40 years, the region is expected to add roughly five million resid…

Reservoir storage has begun to decline earlier than normal due to warm spring conditions and a lack of mountain snowpack. Early snowmelt means that reservoir storage will need to provide water over a longer portion of the year. Karin Bumbaco is quoted. 

The UW Climate Impacts Group has an outstanding opportunity to join our team as an early career social scientist. We are seeking a candidate with a social science or policy background and project management experience who can add breadth to the work we do and support CIG’s senior researchers on climate change adaptation projects with our federal, tribal, state, and local partners. 

A warm winter, poor snowpack, and dry and warm short-term conditions create ideal fire weather conditions. Given this year’s drought declaration, the fire season is likely to begin earlier than normal and we are likely to see higher than normal wildfire risk this summer. Karin Bumbaco is quoted. 

The city brought in experts from the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group and Public Health Seattle-King County to educate staff members in the room on the specific hazards climate change poses to Seattle, so actions can be woven into the plans that focused on preparing communities to withstand these threats.

Haley Staudmyer, a PhD candidate at UC Irvine, spent a year at the Washington State Climate Office working on heat wave trends in the Pacific Northwest. Her time with the office overlapped with the impressive 2021 Heat Dome. Read more about Haley’s extreme heat research interests in this article. 

Much below normal snowpack driven largely by a warm winter has led to expectations of below normal water supply, prompting the Department of Ecology to issue a drought declaration. WASCO provides the WA Department of Ecology with historical and seasonal climate data to help inform these decisions. Karin Bumbaco is quoted. 

Chances of an El Niño weather pattern forming this year jumped sharply with the release of a new report Thursday, meaning Bellingham and the rest of Western Washington could be looking at a warmer winter than normal with less rain and snow. Karin Bumbaco is quoted.

Washington got a lot of rain this winter, not snow. That means while snowpack is historically low, an important reservoir is hitting its peak capacity for the first time in years. Jacob Genuise is quoted.

Dear friends, supporters and colleagues: I loved seeing so many of you at our 30th anniversary film screening event! We were honored to celebrate with over 250 supporters, collaborators, and community members. I particularly enjoyed the thoughtful panel discussion at the end, when former governor Jay Inslee asked far-reaching questions about resilience, storytelling, climate policy, and hope. And…

Low winter snowpack has led to increased fire potential across eastern Washington in June and July. Washington State Climatologist Guillaume Mauger is quoted. 

After a warm winter left Washington’s mountains largely bare this spring, the Washington Department of Ecology issued a statewide emergency drought declaration as projected water supplies are likely to fall far short of the state’s summer demand. Deputy State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco is quoted. 

The entire state of Washington was declared in a drought emergency Wednesday as state officials nervously eyed an unusually low snowpack and a likely hotter and drier than usual spring and summer ahead. At the heart of the declaration is the Yakima River basin, which is in a drought emergency for a fourth year in a row. Deputy State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco is quoted.