Environmental Studies Program
Date of this Version
Spring 5-2013
Abstract
Recent weather events have led people to believe that climate change is the cause of them. El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, has a major influence, in certain parts of the United States. Climate models are predicting that there will be an increase of precipitation in the Midwestern United States. A previous study regarding the eastern portion of Nebraska investigated the impact of climate change on the precipitation schedule (Gershunov et al, 1997). For this study, three stations across Nebraska were investigated, one from the eastern, central, and western part of the state. Different statistical tests will be applied to look at the variance that may be present. Based on the trends found in the data, June and July are expecting to increase in precipitation while August is expecting to decrease. The statistical tests show that there is little variation between the months for the stations.