Determining and Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change on Stormwater Management and Hydrology in Wisconsin

Studies on the impacts of anthropogenic climate change have found that the magnitude and frequency of intense precipitation events are expected to increase over the next century. The goal of this paper is to determine the projected changes in Wisconsin's precipitation using statistically-downscaled GCM data and assess how those changes will impact the design of stormwater-related infrastructure in the state. The primary findings are that the magnitude of low-frequency, high-intensity events are projected to experience significant but modest increases, and the total amount of precipitation and frequency of intense events during March and April are projected to increase as well. Adaptation strategies for the increases in low-frequency quantiles are available, and additional hydrologic studies are needed to determine the potential impacts of the March and April precipitation changes.