For U.S. ‘Dangerous’ Climate Change Is Like Moving 180 Miles South: New at Reason

Generally speaking, Americans would be satisfied if the average temperature where they live was a tad higher. Or at least that’s what University of Nevada sociologist Jonathan Kelley concludes in a recent study published in Social Indicators Research.

The study is based on the results of a national survey of more than 2,000 Americans who were asked to rate how satisfied they were with their summer and winter weather on a scale of 0 to 100. A 25-year old woman in Wisconsin, for example, rated winter in the Badger State at 0 points and summer at 90. Across the nation as a whole, Americans gave their summer weather an average rating of 67 and their winter weather 61. Each extra degree Fahrenheit reduced their satisfaction with summer by -0.82 points, and every higher degree Fahrenheit increased their satisfaction with winter by +1.03 points.

Kelley calculates that a 4-degree-Fahrenheit temperature increase would be the equivalent for a typical American of moving about 180 miles south. To experience an average of 4 degrees Fahrenheit warming, a Virginian like me would head for North Carolina. “Few Americans would find moving from one state to a ‘dangerously’ warmer state further south at all daunting,” notes Kelley.

On the other hand, additional projected warming won’t be so nice for people who already live in hotter countries.

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