(KTXL) — Temperatures from Redding to Bakersfield are expected to see a significant rise in overall temperatures by the middle of the century, according to the United State Bureau of Reclamation.
On Wednesday, the USBR shared that by 2050 annual temperatures are expected to increase by four degrees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Basin. By 2100, temperatures in the basin are expected to increase by 6.5 degrees.
“Precipitation is not expected to change; however, the snowpack is expected to decrease and the park runoff to occur earlier,” the USBR wrote in a Tweet.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Basin includes the Sacramento River in the north, the San Joaquin River and the Tulare Lake Basin in the south.
This 500-mile-long basin includes the state’s two largest rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, and the largest estuary on the West Coast. It also supports California’s water system and much of the state’s economy.
The USBR states that this increase in temperature will reduce the capacity to store water as early season runoff and increased upper watershed evaporation cuts down on the amount of available stored water.
Other areas noted by the USBR to experience increased temperatures during the 21st Century include:
– Rio Grande Basin: 4 to 10 degrees by 2100.
– Klamath River Basin: 2.5 to 10 degrees by 2100.
– Columbia River System: 1 to 4 degrees by 2030 and 4 to 10 degrees by 2070.
– Missouri River Basin: 5 degrees by 2050 and 9 degrees by about 2090.