Due to climate change, Seattle's future average temperature will look a lot more like Los Angeles' today. King County's average July temperature over the years 1968 to 2002 was 65 degrees. One climate-change model (with the catchy name CCSM) predicts that Seattle's average July temperature will be 71 degrees in the year 2070. As climate change unfolds, what will happen to a city like Seattle?

If Seattle maintains its reputation for being a high-quality-of-life city, even in the face of climate change, then footloose firms and workers will both locate in Seattle and the greater metropolitan area will continue to host a vibrant economy. Climate change will shake up the rankings of which cities "are hot" and which "are not" (pun intended). There is no singular magical solution to coping with it. We will grope around trying different strategies; we will experiment. Some will fail and others will succeed. In this age of Twitter and the Internet, good ideas will spread and will protect coastal urbanites around the world. Anticipation, migration and innovation will allow Seattle's residents to continue to thrive in our hotter future.

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Published: Tuesday, August 31, 2010

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