What will Tulsa’s climate look like in sixty years? According to a new study published in Nature Communications, the city’s climate will most closely resemble Huntsville, Texas, 430 miles to the south. Climate scientists Matthew Fitzpatrick from the University of Maryland and North Carolina State professor Robert Dunn mapped 540 North American urban areas, using twenty-seven forecasts to find a likely analog for cities if carbon emissions continue at their current rate. According to their model, Tulsa’s summers will be slightly drier and and two-and-a-half degrees warmer in summer, but eleven-and-a half degrees warmer and much wetter in winter.
The researchers have created an interactive map where you can view how local climates are likely to change in all 540 areas. For example, Oklahoma City's climate will likely resemble Spring, Texas, just outside of Houston, and communities in Nebraska and Iowa will resemble cities in Oklahoma.
The researchers also account for reduced global carbon emissions as well. If that occurs, Tulsa's climate will most closely resemble Sulphur Springs, Texas, a community due east of Dallas. You can see the map here.