Lake Erie can be unforgiving in the winter, but it provides a refreshing summer. P-J file photo

Sun Belt states cannot seem to catch a break. Within the last month, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia have been dealing with devastating storms with repair costs that are likely to top $50 billion.

Some scientists — and even residents there — are noting the unmistakable transformation. Those changes have everything to do with the climate.

In the deep south, summer has become unbearable. It is almost always too hot to be outside during those months.

Hurricanes, especially Helene and Milton, are strengthening, coming on land with even more fierceness than in the past. Flooding — even for those away from the coastline — has become a primary worry.

“Today’s storms, today’s events are simply vastly different from yesterday’s events. One of the things that we’re seeing is the energy content that these systems can retain is significantly greater than it used to be,” John Dickson, president of Aon Edge Insurance Agency that specializes in flood coverage, told the Associated Press. “The weather seems to be, in many cases, moving faster than we as a society are able to keep pace with it.”

These constant and uncertain weather patterns are reflecting well on the Great Lakes region. That was a large part of a conversation earlier this month at the SUNY Fredonia Center for Innovation & Development in Dunkirk.

During a 90-minute presentation by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, officials from the organization noted locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada are blessed with a natural resource that is not as prevalent in warmer locations: freshwater. One of the cities considered by researchers to be a destination in the coming decade was Duluth, Minn.

That buzz was created by Jesse Keenan shortly before the COVID pandemic. As an associate professor and social scientist in the School of Architecture at Tulane University, Keenan led a team commissioned by the University of Minnesota Duluth to study the city’s capacity to meet what could be a major migration to the Lake Superior site.

For now, the location is a regional trade center for Northeast Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin. It offers opportunities for employment, shopping, tourism, trade, education, healthcare and other services. It is also a major transportation hub for the movement of commodities and other freight throughout the region, nation, and internationally — especially because of its port facilities.

Those seeking climate refuge are understanding Duluth’s value. One study commissioned by the city noted the metropolitan area population “would be 158,413 by the year 2040. The aggressive scenario would exceed this by nearly 15,000 more people.”

But Duluth is not alone in its optimism. Keenan, who began the buzz for the Midwest city, believes every lakefront municipality needs to prepare for a potential boom.

Jon Altenberg, president and chief executive officer for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, did not disagree. “Imagine Dunkirk,” he said. “You’re going to have people from New York City and down South. They’re all going to want to move up here. … You’re going to see the transitions. Not all of them are going to be good. They’re going to be hard.”

Altenberg oversees an organization that is a multinational coalition of Canadian and U.S. mayors working collaboratively to promote the environmental and socioeconomic health of the lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. Its members include the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toronto, Detroit, Hamilton and Montreal that represent more than 20 million residents.

Its four strategic pillars include: Climate change and coastal resilience; water equity and infrastructure; economic transformation; and the ecosystem and source water protection. Its overall goal is for a Blue-Green Economic Corridor, which includes the use of renewable energy.

“Forbes magazine did a study that 75% of North American residents want green products and services,” said Eamonn Horan-Lunney, senior director for Canada policy for the organization. “Do they know what it means? No, not really yet. But that’s the future of drawing business here.”

Wind and solar power, while growing in Chautauqua County, is not fully embraced. Those sentiments stem from payment in lieu of taxes agreements and the reality that wind and solar are a small fraction of the power on the New York state grid.

That brought the discussion back to Dunkirk’s mothballed power plant on the city’s shores that previously used coal to produce electricity. County Executive PJ Wendel discussed a previous alternative that included natural gas and or converting the location into a micro-nuclear facility.

Altenberg, who already knew the area’s opposition to turbines in the waters, kept an open mind regarding those ideas. “Micro-nuclear plants are less dangerous … and much more contained,” he said. “The advantages (of those types of plants) have increased.”

A repowered and working plant would benefit a beleaguered and fiscally troubled city in terms of additional tax revenues. It is also better than the present alternative for the site that is down and out while taking up prime space.

What will become of that location remains a work in progress. But the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative has brought an ounce of hope in regard to population projections in the coming decades for the region.

If Duluth is considered a destination, Chautauqua County — on Lake Erie — can be as well.

John D’Agostino is editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.