How Georgia Can Plan for a Changing Climate: A Conversation with Dr. Marshall Shepherd

Chapters

00:00 Meet Dr. Marshall Shepherd

00:52 Understanding the Difference Between Weather and Climate

04:55 How a Changing Climate Is Already Affecting Georgia

10:46 Understanding Climate Projections for Georgia

21:01 What Makes the Climate Outlook Maps a Valuable Resource

23:42 What Users Should Keep in Mind When Reviewing the Maps

26:21 What Climate Resiliency Looks Like Across Georgia

29:21 How to Center Equity in Resilience Planning

35:07 What Gives Marshall Shepherd Hope

Georgia is already experiencing warmer nights, heavier rainstorms, and hurricanes that reach farther inland than they used to, but the path forward doesn’t have to be a guessing game. New tools are helping communities, businesses, and decision-makers turn that uncertainty into a plan.

In this edition of the Georgia Climate Digest interview series, host Eriqah Vincent sits down with Dr. Marshall Shepherd, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography at the University of Georgia and an early contributor to Drawdown Georgia, to talk about how climate conditions are already changing across the state and how Drawdown Georgia’s Climate Outlook Maps can support smarter, more resilient planning.

Why Do Weather and Climate Get Confused, and Why Does the Difference Matter?

Dr. Shepherd explains one of his favorite analogies for separating the two ideas: weather is your mood, and climate is your personality. A single cold snap or a warm week doesn’t define a long-term trend the way climate does. He walks through how Georgia’s recent swings between record warmth and cold snaps reflect both natural variability and an added layer of warming, and why that “both/and” framing matters for how communities plan.

What Climate Impacts Is Georgia Already Experiencing?

The conversation covers the specific ways a changing climate is already showing up across the state, including warmer nighttime temperatures that carry public health risks, heavier rainfall that leads to more frequent flooding, more intense drought in agricultural regions, and stronger hurricanes reaching farther inland than they historically have. Dr. Shepherd also discusses how these events can compound, where one disruption, like a hurricane knocking out power, cascades into other impacts that can last for months.

How Can Businesses and Policymakers Use the Climate Outlook Maps?

Dr. Shepherd unpacks why Drawdown Georgia’s Climate Outlook Maps are built to show a range of possible futures for 2050 rather than a single prediction, and why that range-based approach is exactly what good planning requires. “Any good business practice or policymaker is not going to make decisions based on a single outcome,” he explains. “You need to understand the range of possibilities.”

What Does Climate Resilience Look Like Across Georgia?

Resilience takes different forms depending on where you are in the state, from sea level rise planning on the coast to drought-resistant agriculture in South Georgia to updated stormwater systems in cities. Dr. Shepherd also highlights the value of nature-based solutions, like wetlands and tree cover, and points to Georgia’s first statewide resiliency assessment as a resource for communities getting started.

Whether you’re shaping local policy, running a business, or leading a community organization, this conversation offers a grounded look at how Georgia is already responding to a changing climate, and how to plan for what’s ahead.

What You’ll Learn

• Why Dr. Shepherd says, “Weather is your mood, climate is your personality.”
• Which climate impacts, like hotter nights and stronger hurricanes, are already affecting Georgia.
• Why Drawdown Georgia’s Climate Outlook Maps show a range of scenarios instead of a single prediction.
• How resilience planning looks different in coastal, agricultural, and urban parts of Georgia.
• Why nature-based solutions, like wetlands and tree cover, play a role in reducing risk.
• How communities can center equity when planning for resilience.
• What gives Dr. Shepherd hope about Georgia’s climate future.

Continue reading in our companion blog for additional examples, practical strategies, and key takeaways from Dr. Shepherd’s conversation about Georgia’s changing climate, the Climate Outlook Maps, and what resilience looks like across the state.

Download the Interview Transcript

Prefer to read the conversation instead? Download the complete PDF transcript of this interview with Dr. Marshall Shepherd to explore his insights on weather versus climate, Georgia’s climate impacts, the Climate Outlook Maps, resilience planning, and equity.