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Climate disasters like flooding

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and storms are on the rise across

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the state, resulting in

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added human and financial

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costs.

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A new report projects we'll see

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more intense storms into

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the future, and more rapid

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shifts between very wet and

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very hot conditions.

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But there are ways to encourage

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climate resiliency, according

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to Steve Vavris,

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co-director of Wisconsin Initiative

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on Climate Change Impacts.

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Just out with its 2026

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assessment.

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And thanks very much for being here.

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Thank you for having me.

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So are the current floods and

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last week's 24

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tornadoes across the state

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evidence of a

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changing climate?

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I think last week's severe weather

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outbreak is a combination of random

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weather variability, i.e.

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Bad luck in this case, and also

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climate change.

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And the climate change fingerprints

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are on it because climate change

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favors the warm, humid air masses

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that we saw out of season.

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We typically don't hit 80 degrees

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and have humid weather in the middle

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of April, but if we do,

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we have the fuel that generates

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severe storms.

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So according to your assessment,

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what are other trends for climate

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impacts going forward and

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some examples of that?

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One of the key

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terms or key phrases I like

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to use is warmer and wetter.

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That describes the climate change

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we've seen to date and also

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the climate changes we're expecting

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in the future in Wisconsin.

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For example, the 2020s are

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currently the warmest decade in

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state history.

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The 20 teens were the wettest decade

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in Wisconsin's history and

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we've see an increasing number of

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heavy rainfalls punctuated

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unfortunately with the state record

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last year, last summer in Milwaukee.

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Dumping 14 and 1 half inches.

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And your report said something that

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stood out. It was, March used

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to be part of

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winter, but now it's part of spring.

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Yeah, and that's an interesting new

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finding that came out of the State

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Climatology Office.

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And the reason we talk about it that

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way is that in the past,

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starting in most of the 20th

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century, the majority of time

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in Wisconsin, March was below

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freezing, below 32 degrees.

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And recently in the last decade or

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so, that's flipped.

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And now we spend the majority of

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March above freezing.

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And that has big consequences in

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terms of whether we get rain or

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snow. If we get snow, how long it

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sticks around and when our lake ice

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melts in the spring.

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So these impacts are very

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measurable, and yet there is still,

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if not scientific, political

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skepticism around climate

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change. What is that like for a

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climate scientist?

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More and more people understand

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that the climate's changing.

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The evidence is all around us.

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It's hard to miss.

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The politics enter into it in terms

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of how serious a problem it

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is compared with other issues that

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we're dealing with and also

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what can we do about it or what

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should we do it about it and how

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much resources should we put in

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terms of climate change in other

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issues we're facing.

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So I think that the

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shifts, there's been a shift in

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terms of how we talk about climate

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change. And the surveys show

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that increasing numbers of Americans

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understand and are aware of climate

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change.

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Your report looks at ways Wisconsin

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can mitigate against the impacts,

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like nature-based strategies.

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What's an example of that?

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Yeah, so we talk about in

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the Wiki report, the Wiki

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assessment, a range of options

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ranging from what we call

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traditional mitigation strategies,

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which is cutting carbon emissions,

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reducing the source of climate

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change to adaptation.

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And that is accepting that there

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will be impacts and now figuring out

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what to do with it.

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We try to promote nature-based

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impacts. These are things like green

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infrastructure instead of relying

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strictly on traditional

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infrastructure.

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So for instance, with more heavy

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rainfalls, the traditional

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engineering approach is to build

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bigger stormwater pipes,

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increase the size of culverts,

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but there are also nature-based

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green strategies such as

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rain gardens and green roofs and

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bioswales and wetland restoration

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that can all be as effective or

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more effective and also reduce

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the cost as well.

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How well does Wisconsin's

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infrastructure hold up to

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these changing climate impacts?

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It's a mixed bag.

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One of the ways that we're

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struggling right now is with these

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increasing numbers of extreme

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rainfall.

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Because much of Wisconsin's

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infrastructure was built 40,

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50, even 100 years ago in some

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cases for a different climate.

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That climate was cooler and it was

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drier than the climate we're

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experiencing now.

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And so certain ways

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that used to manage storm water

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just aren't valid anymore.

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They aren't as effective.

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And so the infrastructure can't

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hold up as well.

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So is there a dollar figure on

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how much it would cost to make

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Wisconsin climate resilient

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infrastructure and otherwise?

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There's not really a dollar amount,

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but I like to bring up the old adage

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that an ounce of prevention is worth

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a pound of cure.

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And a lot of studies show that a

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dollar invested in becoming more

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resilient pays off many times

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over in terms of reduced

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damage.

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And a good example of that was with

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Milwaukee becoming much more

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flood resilient over the years.

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The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage

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District in particular has done a

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number of things that have made the

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city more resilient to climate

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change and. Heavy rainfalls,

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and the damage from last summer's

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rains would have been much, much

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worse without that.

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All right. Well, Steve, thanks very

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much and thanks for your work.

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You guys are still recording,

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that I didn't get to,

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and it is, your assessment

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says that underserved and tribal

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nations bear disproportionate

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climate burdens, how so?

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Yeah, so tribes face some

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unique challenges from climate

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change.

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One example is that some

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of their cultural practices are very

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threatened.

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An example of that is Manuman or

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wild rice harvesting.

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It turns out that wild rice is very

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sensitive to weather and climate

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variations.

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Wild rice requires a very

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narrow temperature range to be

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healthy and very steady water

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levels.

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And our variable climate

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patterns of late have made that

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difficult.

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Another reason they face

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challenges is simply because the

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tribal lands are generally

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geographically fixed.

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The reservation boundaries, the

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ceded territory boundaries, those

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were established many, many years

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ago and they're not gonna change

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even though the climate on those

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tribal lands has changed already and

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will likely change more in the

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future.

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Thank you, thank you for that.

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We'll probably use that

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last response as a pullout

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for our new site,

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in addition to the interview

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itself.

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Great, great, thank-you.

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Thank you. Appreciate it.