Did you ever wonder if individual storms are a sign of climatic changes? While we can’t say that any single storm is due to a changing climate, there is evidence that the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events is increasing and that such a trend is consistent with indicators of climate change.

What this means for coastal New Hampshire communities is that it makes sense to anticipate more extreme weather and its effects as a “new normal”. Observed changes in the Northeast region together with New Hampshire, include a rise in average annual temperatures; an increase in extremely hot days; stronger storms; increased precipitation; and increased sea levels (US Global Change Research Program, 2009). The New Hampshire Seacoast has some very densely populated communities and they will be exposed to significant risks and challenges from these changes; risks to infrastructure, public health, natural resources, industry and overall quality of life. As these threats become more evident, so does the need to be proactive in protecting communities. (From the Clean Air Cool Planet Northeast Needs Assessment, 2011)

Being prepared for a changing climate includes many of the same steps required to be better prepared for individual storms. Preparing for the effects of changing climatic conditions provides a head-start in preparing for the effects of individual storms!

Preparing New Hampshire’s Coast
The first step for beginning the conversation about how to create community resiliency toward these hazards is to conduct a vulnerability assessment. The results of a vulnerability assessment provide essential guidance in why and how you should amend your town’s plans, policies and regulations to be more resilient.

The diversity of priorities, goals, audience and characteristics of any given community simply means there is no “one‐size‐fits‐all” vulnerability assessment. The NOAA Roadmap for Adapting to Coastal Risks provides a flexible, conceptual framework for a vulnerability assessment by exploring how current and future hazards impact infrastructure, ecosystems and societal wellbeing, and how communities can manage these vulnerabilities. While many resources exist on creating adaptation plans, the Roadmap’s participatory nature fosters the integration of the vulnerability assessment with concurrent municipal or regional planning activities (e.g.,master plans, capital improvement plans, hazard mitigation plans).

The New Hampshire Coastal Adaptation Workgroup (NHCAW) is a collaboration of 16 organizations working to help communities in New Hampshire’s coastal watershed prepare for dealing with the effects of extreme weather events and other effects of long term climate change. NHCAW provides communities with education, facilitation and technical guidance.

  • Education: NHCAW provides workshops throughout the year. These focus on information to assist communities learn more, gain access to resources and begin to prepare for the impacts climate change.
  • Facilitation: Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) – NROC provides tailored programs to communities in the Coastal Watershed. NROC works with the community to address specific needs and provides educational information and implementing tools. NROC stays involved with each community for up to a year to implement natural resource based planning projects.
  • Technical Guidance: The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP), is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Estuary Program, which is a collaborative local/state/federal program established under the Clean Water Act with the goal of promoting the protection and enhancement of nationally significant estuarine resources. PREP receives its funding from the EPA and is administered by the University of New Hampshire. The mission of the PREP is to protect, enhance, and monitor the environmental quality of the state’s estuaries.

Here are some ways you can get started:

Selected Resources in Climate Preparedness Planning