KCRag Forum

This study claims that Kansas and Northern MO will see notable migration from coasts...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01 ... comments=1
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/artic ... ne.0227436

I wonder why Kansas City doesn't appear to be receiving as many new residents as rural places in N. Missouri and Western Kansas. W. Kansas is having water issues now. I can't believe that those regions would be able to support more residents -- especially since most information I've seen is that W. Kansas will be even drier in the future.

FangKC wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:19 pm I wonder why Kansas City doesn't appear to be receiving as many new residents as rural places in N. Missouri and Western Kansas. W. Kansas is having water issues now. I can't believe that those regions would be able to support more residents -- especially since most information I've seen is that W. Kansas will be even drier in the future.

Western Kansas is extremely sparsely populated already and only needs enough population to support agriculture (not all that dense agriculture at that). Arizona is significantly drier yet and the population grows by leaps and bounds every year. So not sure the availability of water is that much of a limiting factor for population when that population is not engaged in dense agriculture (and the residents do not insist on lush yards and golf courses).

Arizona's population is sustained by snowfall in the mountains. The snow pack in those mountains is very vulnerable to climate change, so cities like Phoenix and Tucson will be affected. They might not be able to sustain the populations they have now, and certainly not significantly higher populations.

I've seen prediction models that say Missouri's climate will be much more arid like southern Texas in 100 years -- if nothing is done to stem climate change.