Maine's Changing Climate Special 2021

Climate change and the resulting extreme weather from it

The weather in Maine is changing, and specific trends in climate data show how. An extreme weather event is not necessarily evidence of climate change. An increasing frequency of events, however, is.

Keith Carson answers 3 of the most frequently asked questions about electric cars

Ever wondered how much your electricity bill would increase if you got an electric vehicle? Keith Carson did, too. 

Maine bird species may become extinct in our lifetime as climate warms

Several Maine bird species are threatened as the climate warms. One might well go extinct, another may simply move north.

With the Earth warming, it's getting more difficult for others to deny the reality of climate change.

At this point very few people, even in the depths of the internet, deny this fact. 

Growers are facing no choice but to adapt to a changing growing season in Downeast Maine.

Maine is home to the wild blueberry. Our state has the highest production of the crop in the world. It's a vital part of the state’s economy.

Climate change has presented both challenges and opportunities for the Libby family, owners of Libby & Son U-Picks Fruit & Farm in York County.

It was a perfect spring day. Aaron Libby and I jumped in his four-wheeler and cruised up and down rows of flowering fruit trees. The sweet smell of the blossoms was intoxicating. 

While Maine's woods have survived many cycles and centuries of weather, the warming climate, we are told, will change them.

Changing temperatures are going to alter the forest in the decades to come.

Experts say the change bodes well for Maine's winter tourism.

Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a new set of climate “normals” for specific sites across the country. Portland and several locations across Maine made this list as they are climate collection sites for the National Weather Service.

Lake ice seasons are falling victim to climate change, and a shorter lake ice season has economic and social impacts across the Pine Tree State.

Winter in Maine: dark, cold, and seemingly unending. Ask almost anyone, and they'll tell you that you have to have a hobby in order to keep your spirits high.

With more sporadic winter storms and frequent high-wind days, ski resorts are capitalizing as much as they can on windows for snowmaking.

It shows skiing, like farming and fishing, is also impacted by climate change effects in Maine. 

University of Maine research has focused on the Arctic because it is highly sensitive to temperatures and warming there can lead to changes elsewhere.

The Arctic experienced what he calls “abrupt change” in temperatures from 2007 to 2012.

“Temperatures increased over a five-year period between 8 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s annual temperatures, not just summer or winter," Dr. Paul Mayewski, director of the University of Maine Climate Change Institute, told NEWS CENTER Maine. "That is as big a change in temperature, and as fast a change, as occurred between the last vestiges of the Ice Age and modern-day climate eleven-and-a-half thousand years ago.”

Sailing into the harbor on the Vinalhaven ferry, visitors get a quick reminder that the island is home to one of the biggest lobster fleets in Maine. Carvers Harbor appears full of boats even when many are out fishing.

The core of the town — fishing wharves, the ferry terminal, gas pumps, stores, the fire department, even a motel — stretches out right beside the harbor.

It means the risk, or threat, from rising sea levels is very real in this town and others along the Maine coast.

Watch the full special below:

Maine's Changing Climate Playlist