Media interview Birkel, Fernandez on impending effects of climate change in Maine
In several different news stories, members of the media interviewed University of Maine professor Emeritus and climate research scientist Ivan Fernandez and research assistant professor Sean Birkel on climate change in Maine. Fernandez said in an interview with the Sun Journal that the warming trend is largely due to natural weather fluctuations, the re-emergence of El Nino and climate change, resulting in less snow and lake ice for traditional, winter outdoor activities in Maine. Next winter could be different, he said, but extreme weather trends will continue, and preparation and adaptation will be important to minimize negative effects. The Portland Press Herald interviewed Birkel and shared a visualization from the Climate Change Institute Climate Reanalyzer on average winter temperatures from 1940-024. Birkel, Maine’s state climatologist, said not only are the winters warmer, precipitation is different and ice melts quicker. The Bangor Daily News also interviewed Birkel, a faculty member with the Climate Change Institute and University of Maine Cooperative Extension, on how the weather pattern will affect storms along the coast now that climate change is causing greater extremes and variability. The Sun Journal and CentralMaine.com shared the report from the Press Herald.