Predictions of global warming and other climate changes has stimulated interest in the possible economic and societal impacts of such changes. Significant climate anomalies experienced over the past 10-15 years in the northeastern U.S. have had both positive and negative impacts on transportation, water supplies, energy use, agricultural production and recreation. Recent climate events such as record breaking low temperatures in December 1989 periods of significant drought and high temperatures in the spring and summer months of 1988, exceptionally heavy rainfall in May and June 1989, etc., provide an opportunity to directly observe the economic and other impacts of climate variations. We examine several recent climate anomalies and describe their affects on recreational skiing, the residential consumption of natural gas, and agricultural crop yields in the northeastern United States.
5 pp.
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