How Many Days You'll Need Your AC In Lower Moreland This Summer

LOWER MORELAND, PA — With climate change's impacts becoming more severe and widespread, residents of the Lower Moreland area and around the greater Philadelphia region are running their air conditions more often than ever, according to an interactive map and analysis from The Washington Post.

And it’s only going to get worse in the coming decades, as carbon emissions have set the ball rolling around the planet, according to projections for 2060.

From 1981 to 2000, Lower Moreland residents needed their air conditioners an average of 82 days. That increased by six more days from 2001-2022, and is projected to increase by eight more days by 2060.

In Lower Moreland, here’s how heat indices and actual air temperatures have changed and are projected to change:

• 1981-2000: 76 summer days requiring air conditioning, with an average heat index of 73 degrees and average air temperature of 72 degrees.
• 2001-2022: 82 summer days requiring air conditioning, an increase of six days with an average heat index of 75 degrees and an average air temperature of 74 degrees.
• Projected for 2060: 90 summer days requiring air conditioning, with a projected average heat index of 82 degrees and air temperature of 78 degrees.

The analysis is based on the heat index, the feel-like temperature that combines the air temperature and relative humidity, rather than air temperature alone. A 65-degree Fahrenheit daily mean temperature was used to capture cooling needs throughout the day in cities nationwide.

For the projected 2060 period, The Post used forecast air temperature and specific humidity from the NASA Center for Climate Simulation.

2024 has been the hottest summer on record for millions of Americans from California to Maine as heat records fall around the country, especially in the U.S. Southwest as the world grows hotter with more greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere.

Extreme heat is but one consequence of those emissions. Climate change-fueled droughts, torrential rains, tornadoes, flooding, and more frequent and more severe thunderstorms have each had major impacts on Pennsylvania life in the past several years.

Pennsylvania is also one of the nation's most significant contributors of emissions, which has more anthracite coal than anywhere in the world and more natural gas than anywhere in the U.S. outside of Texas.

See also:

• 'Ecological Mismatch': Hot Winter Wreaking Havoc On PA Environment
• 12 PA Polluters, 'Dirty Dozen,' Among Nation's Worst
• As The World Warmed, PA Produced Record Amount Of Natural Gas