Weather Events
What is the warmest year on record?
2016
What largely shapes an individual’s personal opinion about the connection between climate change and extreme weather?
Experiencing a natural disaster, especially the destruction of a whole community.
What groups are most impacted by extreme weather events?
Low income and minority communities
What 8 events are regarded as extreme weather?
Severe heat waves, droughts, tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, blizzards, freezes and hurricanes
How does climate change impact weather?
Increases the number of extreme weather events and the severity of extreme weather events
How is extreme weather viewed by some Republicans, like President Donald Trump, compared to Democrats and Environmentalists.
Republicans: weather patterns fluctuate due to reasons unrelated to greenhouse gas emissions, and Democrats and Environmentalists are assuming worst-case scenario to "feed alarmism" (4). Communities will adapt
Democrats and Environmentalists: extreme weather patterns are due to carbon emissions. Communities must mitigate
What percentage of people in the US live on the coast?
40%
What societal advances have made scientists no longer reluctant to connect climate change to extreme weather?
Advances in technologies have made it possible to measure the connection, such as computer modeling and data collection techniques
How will US regions be impacted by increasing extreme weather?
The Northeast and Midwest will see more heatwaves and heavy downpours
The Southeast and Northwest will experience more wildfires and insect outbreaks threatening crops and human health
What do critics of the Flood Insurance Future believe?
That the program subsidizes people to live in and develop in harm's way.
What contributes to vast property damage from natural disasters?
Lack of adoption of building codes in high risk areas that would cause less damage to occur, and failure to rebuild outside of areas prone to more frequent extreme weather occurences when given subsidies.
In 2014, how many homes did university researchers predict will be built in fire prone zones in California by 2050?
1 million new homes
Why is it difficult to link tornados to climate change?
Data on tornados does not go back far enough to make a conclusion on whether or not climate change has impacted the number of or severity of tornados.
What are policies that discourage people from living in places were extreme weather is common?
Buyout policies, charging fees to build homes in these areas, and using federal money to buy land before properties can be built
During the first half of 2019, how many people around the world were displaced by extreme weather events?
7 million
What has been specific impact that extreme weather has had in California?
The state's six worst wildfires since 1950 have all occurred since 2006 (according to total acres burned)
How does extreme weather impact farmers?
Farmers cannot plant in regions that are too dry to too damp. Changing weather conditions, like increased flooding, or drought severity soil crops.
What are the impacts of buyout policing (instead of subsidizing rebuilding efforts)?
-Buyout policies can minimize further losses
-Buyout policies can leave communities with "blighted properties" and are expensive
In the year the article came out, how much did extreme weather cost the US?
91 billion dollars
What is the Paris Agreement's top goal to limit global increasing temperatures to? How does this compare to how much the Earth has warmed since the 1800's? (In Celsius)
The goal is to limit global temperature increases to "well below 2 degrees Celsius" and the Earth has already warmed by 1 degree Celsius