Climate Change and Corte Madera
A high level summary of some of the most significant ways that climate change will impact Corte Madera.
A composite map showing the combined Wildland Urban Interface (in red with black building outlines) and the FEMA 1% Annual Chance Flood Zone (in blue, with yellow building footprints).
Sea level rise projections for the San Francisco area under two scenarios: a high emission, medium-high risk aversion scenario and a high emission, low risk aversion scenario. Sources: Data based on Kopp et al. (2014) and Griggs et al. (2017) and presented in the State of California Sea Level Rise Guidance 2018 Update.
The Town of Corte Madera is already experiencing the effects of climate change, and projections indicate that these impacts will continue to worsen throughout the century. These changes poses significant immediate, medium-term, and long-term risks to the community’s health, safety, economy, ecosystems, and infrastructure. The Bay Area’s average annual maximum temperature has increased by 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit from 1950 to 2005 and will continue to increase creating a cascade of additional impacts that vary in severity, scale, certainty, and timing including the immediate and unpredictable risk of wildfire and long-term and unavoidable sea level rise. Source: California Climate Change Assessment.
Climate change will affect all Corte Maderans. Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, flooding, and wildfires can affect the direct health and safety of residents and visitors. Disruptions to the transportation network from flooding or wildfire events can limit the ability of people to evacuate and move away from danger, decrease access to hospitals and medical care facilities, and reduce the ability of emergency first responders to protect residents. A wildfire in the Corte Madera community could put lives at risk and likely destroy homes and other infrastructure. Over time, rising sea levels will make coastal flooding more likely and alter the shoreline. Most of the Town is either in the 1% annual chance of occurrence (100-year) FEMA floodplain or the Wildland Urban Interface.