The big picture: The map above shows major catastrophes announced by the federal civil protection agency over the past two decades, a snapshot that reaches from hurricanes and severe storms to wildfires and droughts.
This year has also seen dangerous, lightning-induced winds known in the Midwest as “derechoes,” and a record drought dried up the West.
Climate change, scientists figured out, raises the intensity, and in many cases the frequency, of these events as well.
Yes, but: “[T][e] he middle- and Northeastern landlocked state along canadian border may feel some of these disadvantages slightly less than other regions of the country,” Smith said.
This applies in particular if it concerns high rain or snow, heat waves and wildfires.
Why it’s important: width is important!
There are some areas where there are known and documented risks, such as coastal Louisiana’s storm susceptibility, and 18 of the 20 greatest wildfires registered in California since 2000 have been started.
What is next: Limiting the future intensity of extreme weather risks will require global emissions reductions in order to reduce global warming as far as possible.
Climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. (wikipedia)
Ernest Lawrence
Ernest Orlando Lawrence was a pioneering American nuclear scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron. (wikipedia)
Extreme weather
Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. (wikipedia)
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security , initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. (wikipedia)
Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center
The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a government command facility in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia, used as the center of operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency . (wikipedia)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , commonly referred to as Berkeley Lab, is a United States national laboratory that conducts scientific research on behalf of the Department of Energy. (wikipedia)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States, founded by the University of California, Berkeley in 1952. (wikipedia)
