The state’s top committee of coastal experts has said North Carolina and coastal communities needs to plan to deal with at least 1 foot of sea-level rise by 2050 − a date officials warn that’s not too far out.
In a sea-level rise update report released last month, the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission Science Panel said the evidence is becoming increasingly clear that the seas are rising, faster than originally thought in some cases, and that the trend will accelerate in the coming decades.
“In recent years, confidence regarding the expected amount of sea level rise by 2050 has increased,” the science panel states in its update report. “Regardless of how much warming occurs by 2100, trajectories evaluated by the 2022 sea level rise technical report indicate sea level rise of 1 foot to 1.4 feet by 2050, relative to sea level in 2000.”
The science panel relied on a 2022 report by a federal sea-level rise task force composed of several agencies, including FEMA, NOAA and the EPA, that aims to provide states and local governments with the best data and ways to address the challenges that sea-level rise poses for coastal communities.