The United States could experience an increase of 2 degrees Celsius or more a few years earlier than the rest of the planet, making it in the first country where the consequences of climate change will be noticed before.
This is revealed by a study published in the journal PLOS One, conducted by Raymond Bradley and Ambarish Karmalkar, from the University of Amherst, who warn that a total of 48 states will overcome the two degree Celsius barrier before reaching 2050.
The computer simulation, which has taken into account the temperatures that were recorded in the month of December of last year, predicts that the areas from New York to Boston, which are the most populated in the northeast part of the country, could register values of 3 degrees if the global average temperature increased 2ºC. Two degrees Celsius is the "barrier" that leaders pledged to pass by signing the Paris Agreement, but if this continues, they are likely to be overcome.
The global temperature map that researchers have used as a reference detected excessive overheating in some areas of the planet, especially in cold areas such as the Arctic. There, last autumn temperatures of more than 20ºC above normal were registered. Although they were not the only ones who had a warmer season than would be normal.
Image - Ambarish V. Karmalkar and Raymond S. Bradley
The eastern United States and Canada, southern Australia, and various parts of China and Mongolia are also experiencing significant increases in temperatures. Researchers warn that »the difference in temperatures between the land mass and the oceans will lead to several regions of the northern hemisphere to experience a warming greater than in the whole planet».
You can read the full study here (It is in English).