Falling trees are one of many outcomes in a warming Maryland
As horrendous and deadly floods sweep through Texas and North Carolina and equally deadly and worsening heatwaves bake the nation in this summer of 2025, it can be overwhelming to try to rationally think why all this extreme weather is happening and if there are things we can do to make these events less regular and less terrifying.
I was recently wondering if climate change has anything to do with the trees that are more frequently dropping to the ground out of seemingly thin air in my town, Takoma Park, Maryland. And what do you know, an article appeared in a local media outlet called Source of the Spring that literally answers the question and also provides a fascinating look at how climate change is affecting Maryland, which isn’t typically one of the states front of mind when thinking about natural disasters.
Author Mike Tidwell lives in Takoma Park and wrote a book about the falling trees, which have recently demolished both my neighbor’s house and a friend’s back porch. Tidwell cites arborists who say “this mass tree mortality was linked to extreme weather, triggered by climate change. On [Maryland’s] Eastern Shore, more dead trees can be found in the ‘ghost forests’ of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.”
I live next to Washington D.C. in what is called Maryland’s Capital Region, and along with the trees, mainly oaks, that are suffering from root rot, extreme precipitation is the number-one climate killer.
Federal projections show Montgomery County will see nearly five more days a year at or above 95 degrees at the lowest levels of temperature increases, and Prince George’s County will see just over six days at or above 95. At this same level of warming, both of those counties can expect an extra 31 days a year with extreme levels of precipitation.
Howard County has already experienced fatal flooding events. In 2016 and 2018, torrential downpours of over 6.5 inches of rain in three hours flooded Ellicott City and Catonsville, resulting in three fatalities over the two years and major destruction with each flood.
Both Howard County and Montgomery County have climate action plans as well, both aimed at mitigating climate change impacts and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, Prince George’s County established a climate action plan in 2021 dealing with all aspects of global warming, including flooding.
The heat-island effect of mega-urban places like where I live will increasingly make our summers—and other seasons—more unbearable and deadly. But rural areas by no means get a break. NOAA notes that the average temperature across Maryland have risen about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 100 years, which has been the lead up to more precipitation, droughts, flooding, and sea-level rise. Farmlands and city neighborhoods are becoming wetlands.
For Baltimore, “high temperatures are dangerous for residents and may overload the energy grid and could increase respiratory illness rates, including asthma.”
“The number one killer from climate change is not hurricanes, it’s not flooding — it’s heat,” Tidwell said. “Heat waves kill more people, especially the very old and the very young and the very poor.”
But rising temperatures aren’t the only worry for the city. Rising sea levels and increases in extreme storm events could affect Baltimore because it sits right on the harbor. A study done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lays out the risks Baltimore City faces. It found that from 1997 to 2011, the city was spending $2.2 million annually to rebuild from flooding events.
The city is trying to adapt. Baltimore City adopted a new version of its disaster preparedness plan in 2023, specifically targeting the effects of climate change on the city’s residents. The plan identifies issues ranging from dam hazards to extreme temperatures to soil movement. It also delves into plan implementation and maintenance, detailing key members of the Baltimore City government and their role in the plan.
In Central Maryland, the bad news is similar, with worrying temperature and rain increases.
A Baltimore-area survey published by Johns Hopkins University in March includes residents from Baltimore County and Baltimore City. Nearly three-quarters of the Baltimore County residents surveyed said they are worried about higher costs due to climate change.
“We found that the overall share of Baltimore-area residents who are concerned that climate change will personally harm them in the future is high compared to the nation and the state of Maryland,” the authors concluded.
On Maryland’s famed hotbed of tourism called the Eastern Shore, Harriett Tubman’s birth home is inaccessible because it’s in the middle of one of the ghost forests in Dorchester County.
Ghost forests — which are either partially or completely dead — can be found throughout the lower Eastern Shore in Dorchester, Somerset, Worcester, and Wicomico counties. These ghost forests result from saltwater intrusion, or “invisible floods,” where seawater creeps inland as temperatures and waters rise and “essentially when the salt burns trees from the inside out.”
High tides, droughts, and groundwater pumping all contribute to this increasingly common phenomenon. Eventually, land plagued by saltwater intrusion turns into either marshland or open water.
In the lower Eastern Shore, there are over 70,000 acres of forest classified by the state as ghost forests, with 90% of those acres classified as severely or very severely impacted. For a forest to fall under these classifications, at least half of its trees would be dead.
Farms along the Eastern Shore, including northern counties such as Cecil, Kent, Talbot and Caroline, are known for growing corn and soybeans, used primarily to feed livestock. But these crops don’t grow well in salty soil and there is no perfect alternative. While there are vulnerable farms throughout the entire shore, Black communities in the lower Eastern Shore are being disproportionately impacted by saltwater intrusion.
Throughout the entire Eastern Shore, the fishing industry is changing. “One very clear example is that we never had a shrimp industry in the state until the last couple years.” Warmer waters will kill fish at an increasing rate. Similarly, an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the acidity in the ocean water, which can deplete oyster populations.
The state’s famed blue crabs, however, are one fish population that should do well with climate change because they thrive in warm water.
The region called Southern Maryland is less agricultural and filled more with communities. These people will increasingly be dealing with increases in high-intensity storms and rising sea levels. There is a lot of infrastructure in the path of flooding.
Finally, Western Maryland will be tempered somewhat from the effects of climate change with its higher elevation. But the mountainous region is not exempt from extreme flash floods.
Allegany and Garrett counties already experienced flash flooding in May after a sudden outburst of up to five inches of rain.
According to Deborah Landau, director of ecological management for the Maryland/DC chapter of The Nature Conservancy, flooding will continue to be a major issue in the Maryland panhandle. She said flooding and rising temperatures may harm communities and ecosystems. “Western Maryland is part of the central Appalachian Mountains, and [The Nature Conservancy] has targeted the Appalachian Mountains as one of the most important places to protect worldwide,” Landau said. She said the organization is working to protect the forests and the species that travel through them. According to Landau, the Appalachian Mountains are a “superhighway” for species movement in the region.
“It’s often going to impact a lot of maybe less affluent communities, those that are less likely to have flood insurance,” Landau said. “And with flooding, it takes a long time to recover. It’s a lot of infrastructure damage.”
Landau said the potential for flooding can be offset, at least partially, through forest protection.
The latest cumulative data suggests a really brutal future, one in which Mother Nature returns the payment. It’s no longer just in TV shows, movies, and books, but it’s in real life that we have surpassed the need to keep the Earth below a certain temperature. Now we have to adapt to the damages we have somehow agreed are acceptible and get more prepared for when the inevitable disasters strike. Let’s hope future generations can find a more balanced way forward, in Maryland and beyond.