1 Climate Mapping in the Great Lakes Region as a Means for Inter-Urban Collaboration in Climate Adaptation Planning

There is a major disconnect between climate scientists and city planners. Accessing climate data generally requires specialized training that most urban planners do not have. Therefore, planners depend on scientists to translate the data into projected climate impacts. Fine scale climate mapping that helps translate climate data into impacts on cities could assist in the climate adaptation planning process by eliminating the need for urban planners to make this translation for themselves. This is especially significant in the Great Lakes region, where the unique geography creates many small microclimates that are not represented in broad summary documents such as the IPCC. Instead, these reports aggregate the microclimates into one set of impacts, calling the region simply “The Midwest. ” This project attempts to define a set of climate zones in the Great Lakes region that capture the unique microclimates, and statistically establish the homogeneity of each zone across samples of cities. These zones could become a basis of collaboration between cities with existing climate adaptation plans and those looking for inspiration for their own plans. Using statistically downscaled climate model projections, a second se