Climate Adaptation Plan

From rising temperatures to more intense rain events and wilder weather, Grey County is already experiencing the impacts of our changing climate. While climate change mitigation aims to slow climate impacts by reducing greenhouse gas pollution, climate adaptation aims to adjust how we do things, so the impacts will be less disruptive to our everyday lives. In other words, adaptation actions help us better prepare for and recover from the impacts of climate change. In Grey County, climate change is expected to cause warmer, wetter, and wilder conditions, including:

• Increased average temperatures in every season
• More extreme heat days (above 30C)
• Annual precipitation is expected to increase; on average, winter and spring will get significantly wetter and summer will have a slight decrease.
• Increased heavy rainfall days (more than 10mm)
• More extreme storms
• Agriculture is expected to experience a longer growing season, but also drought, soil erosion and nutrient loss.

More specifically this means:

• Annual Mean Temperature: Mean temperatures are projected to increase annually and in every season. By 2080, average mean temperature will increase to 11.4C, from a baseline of from 6.7C.
• Temperature Extremes:
  • Days above 30C will increase to 38 days per year from a baseline of 5 days.
  • Days below -15C will decrease to 2 days from a baseline of 22 days.
• Seasonal Mean Precipitation: Every season will experience an increase in mean precipitation, with most significant increases in spring, fall, and winter, and only slight increase in summer.
• Growing Season: First frost dates will be later and last frost days will be earlier, resulting in a longer growing season, to 212 days from a baseline of 164 days.

Going Green in Grey, the County’s Climate Change Action Plan, identifies nine priority actions. One of those priority actions is to develop a community-wide climate change adaptation plan.

In 2024, Grey County began its climate adaptation planning process following the Building Adaptative and Resilient Communities (BARC) framework, used by hundreds of municipalities across Canada. This plan will identify infrastructure and services that will be impacted by climate change, what those impacts are likely to be, and prioritized actions to help us determine where to focus our attention and resources.  

• Milestone 1 - Initiate (August - September 2024)

  • Identify past initiatives, plans, and policies
  • Create working group

• Milestone 2 - Research (October 2024 - May 2025) 

  • Compile climate projections
  • Identify impacts
  • Assess vulnerability and risks
  • Public engagement on vulnerability and risk assessment

• Milestone 3 - Plan (June - December 2025)

  • Create vision and set goals
  • Identify and prioritize actions
  • Draft plan and circulate for public input 

A Climate Adaptation Working Group will guide this planning process by participating in a series of workshops. This group includes diverse representation from several County departments, member municipalities, conservation authorities, social services, utilities, public health, agriculture sector, and Indigenous groups.

How Can I Provide Input?

Grey County wants to hear about how climate change is affecting you. 

We are currently developing our outreach and engagement activities for this project and will be updating this page when it is finalized. In the meantime, subscribe to the County’s climate action newsletter to stay in the loop!

• Grey County Future Climate Projections 
• Grey County Climate Science Report
• Council Report CAOR-CW-20-24  – Initiating Grey County’s Climate Adaptation Plan - Sept. 12, 2024
• Ontario Climate Change Impact Assessment