PowerPoint Presentation - Houghton, 2009, p 5.

Future Changes
Fletcher

•Future abnormally hot days and nights and heat waves are very likely to become more common.
•Cold days and cold nights are very likely to become much less common. The number of days with frost is very likely to decrease.
•Future sea ice extent will continue to decrease and could even disappear entirely in the Arctic Ocean in summer in summer in coming decades. Sea ice loss has increased coastal erosion in Arctic Alaska and Canada because of increased exposure of the coast line to wave action.
•Future precipitation is likely ato be les frequent but more intense, and precipitation extremes are very likely to increase.
•Future droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in some regions (e.g., U.S. Southwest, Mexico), leading to a greater need to respond to reduced water supplies, increased wildfires, and various ecological impacts.
•Future hurricanes in the North Atlantic and North Pacific are likely to have increased rainfall and wind speeds; for 1C (1.8F) increase in tropical sea-surface temperature, rainfall rates will increase by 6% to 18% and wind speeds of the strongest hurricanes will increase 1% to 8%.
•Future strong cold-season storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific are likely to be more frequent, with stronger winds and more extreme wave heights.