A long bridge crosses a river between two ridges covered in red, orange and yellow trees in autumn.

Climate change in the Hudson River Estuary

Climate change is affecting New York State now and is expected to continue to impact every region of the state in the future. Hudson Valley communities face a wide range of impacts - such as severe storms, sea level rise, extreme heat, and short-term drought. 

For more information:

  • The New York State Climate Impacts Assessment provides an analysis of current and projected impacts to the state.

  • To learn more about regional impacts in the Hudson Valley, explore the Assessment’s Climate Impact Spotlights for the three regions in the Hudson River Estuary: North Hudson region (Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Washington counties), Catskills Region (Greene, Ulster, Delaware, and Sullivan counties), and the South Hudson region (Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester counties). 

  • The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Climate Change webpage provides an overview of climate change.

Adapting to a changing climate

In partnership with NYS Water Resources Institute, the NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program's Climate Resilience program helps communities to carry out climate adaptation and resilience projects. Climate adaptation involves taking actions to reduce the level of climate change impacts to communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems. The Climate Resilience program emphasizes conservation of natural systems, nature-based solutions, and equitable approaches to adaptation planning. 

The Climate Resilience program collaborates with a variety partners to provide support to communities. Our partnerships increase our ability to provide inspiration, technical assistance, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and funding to communities. 

Key partners include: 

For more information about the Climate Resilience program visit our page on the NYSDEC website.

 

Climate Smart Communities Videos

A video series on the ways communities are responding to climate change, produced by NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program. To view more videos, visit the Climate Smart Communities playlist on YouTube. 

Play Sea-level Rise: Planning Coastal Development

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