Planning for climate change demonstrates a commitment to the people of Maryland. Oftentimes, communities that are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change have the lowest capacity to respond due to socioeconomic factors such as age, geography, and even gender. Understanding which communities in Maryland are most vulnerable to climate impacts and what their risk is, will assist the planning process by prioritizing areas for resilience projects.

US climate resilience toolkit (NOAA, NASA)

The US Climate Resilience toolkit site, managed by NOAA, includes resources that define and provide solutions for mitigation, adaptation, vulnerability, and resilience. The climate resilience toolkit includes steps to resilience, case studies, and tools.

Date last modified: 2022

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA)

This site provides information related to increasing temperature, extreme weather, precipitation, and sea level rise in the state of Maryland. 

Date last modified: 2022

Phase 1: Sea Level Rise and Coastal Storms, 2008

Phase 2: Building Ecological, Economic and Social Resilience, 2011

Maryland Park Equity Mapper (DNR, UMD, 2021)

Useful for prioritizing climate change adaptation, or analyzing opportunities for new public lands, the Maryland Park Equity Mapper is meant to provide an initial quantitative tool to help expand public access to nature for underserved communities

Date last modified: 2021 

State Lands Climate Vulnerability Assessment (MD DNR, Salisbury University)

The State Lands Climate Vulnerability Assessment was designed by Salisbury University in 2019 to show how state lands score in their ecological value (yellow) and climate vulnerability value (blue).

Date last modified: October 2019 

Climate Mapping for Resilience & Adaptation (U.S. Coastal Resilience Toolkit)

This tool provides a map of climate-related hazards, including real-time maps, predicted exposure changes, federal policies, and funding opportunities.

Date last modified: Updated Daily

Climate.Park.Change (NRPA, SASKI)

Climate.Park.Change., a web-based platform, compiles data on how climate change affects park and recreation spaces and suggests physical design solutions that address climate impacts as well as other community challenges.

Date last modified: 2021 

Maryland Coastal Atlas (MD DNR, NOAA, ICAN)

The Maryland Coastal Atlas has layers for the entire state of Maryland that can provide assistance in understanding natural resources and climate impacts on public lands. Climate change related layers include: coastal resiliency assessment, sea level rise vulnerability, sea level rise vulnerable wetlands, sea level rise wetland adaptation areas, shoreline rates of change, and storm surge.

Date last modified: 2022

Maryland Sea Level Rise Projections for 2023 (MD DNR, UMCSE, MCCC)

This report provides an update to the 2018 SLR projections and includes some discussion on saltwater intrusion and high tide flooding. Notable, considering factors that impact sea level rise, together with extrapolations of tide gauge and satellite observations, the new projections indicate that sea level rise will likely be between 0.3 m (1 ft) and 0.5 m (1.6 ft) by 2050 (from a 2005 starting point). 

Date last modified: 2023

Guidance for Using Maryland's 2018 Sea Level Rise Projections  (MD DNR, MD Sea Grant)

Use this to identify project-specific SLR numbers, assess regional sea level rise, and to follow a step-based process for engaging communities in SLR planning. This document identifies Maryland's overall risk to sea level rise by 2050 as 1.7ft using the Cambridge tide gauge. 

Date last modified: July 2022

MD Coast Smart Climate Ready Action Boundary  (Maryland Coast Smart Council)

The climate ready action boundary (CRAB) tool provides a visual representation to help planners understand construction elevation guidelines. Using data from FEMA’s floodplain mapping, the CRAB adds three additional feet of water to a baseline flood elevation to guide construction elevations for public lands and infrastructure in the face of sea level rise.

Date last modified: March 2021

See also: Maryland Coast Smart Council

MyCoast Maryland (MD DNR, BlueUrchin)

MyCoast is a photo documentation tool to capture high tide and rain based flooding. It can be used to track flood impacts overtime, and should be used to encourage action to reduce localized flooding. Reports are publicly available and are linked to precipitation, tidal, and riverine data. 

Date last modified: 2022

MDOT SHA Climate Change (MDOT SHA, OPPE)

This resource created by the Maryland Department of Transportation shows nuisance flooding areas where roads maintained by the State Highway Authority might be impacted by climate change and rising sea levels.

Date last modified: September 10, 2022

Surging Seas Risk Finder (Climate Central)

Climate Central's Surging Seas Risk Finder aims to provide citizens, communities and policymakers with easily accessible, science-based, local information to help you understand and respond to the risks of sea level rise and coastal flooding. Risk Finder also provides customized downloadable factsheets, tables and figures to make it easier for you to spread the word. 

Climate Central Coastal Risk Screening Tool (Climate Central)

The Coastal Risk Screening Tool can be used to quickly understand areas subject to inundation under a certain amount of tidal flooding. 

Date last modified: 2021

Projected IDF curve data tool (Carnegie Mellon, CBT)

This tool shows how precipitation patterns may change across the state under low (RCP 4.5) and high (RCP 8.5) emissions scenarios by the end of the century. Precipitation was analyzed in the example plans linked on this website by using a 2 year return period or 50% chance of being exceeded in any given year for the time period 2050-2100. This webinar explains the tool. 

Date last modified: 2021