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By  Alejandra Borunda Hurricane Irene caused enormous damage in New York state, flooding homes like this one in Prattsville, NY, in 2011. Major weather events like Irene send people to the hospital and can even contribute to deaths for weeks after the storms. Monika Graff/Getty Images hide caption Hurricane Irene caused enormous damage in New York state, flooding homes like this one in Prattsville, NY, in 2011. Major weather events like Irene send people to the hospital and can even contribute to deaths for weeks after the storms. Dr. Latoya Storr was an emergency medicine physician for a hospital in Grand Bahama when Hurricane Dorian ripped across the island in 2019. The hospital flooded four feet deep in places. Storr and her colleagues had to move the intensive care unit, pediatric department, and maternal care into the emergency room area—the only space not totally flooded. Storr was particularly struck that the health risks for her patients didn't stop when the storm passed. In the first few days after the hurricane, patients showed up with bad bruises from escaping floodwaters or trying to fix their houses. People came to the hospital who had lost their medications when power went out, or they couldn't refill prescriptions. Weeks later, people started showing up with breathing issues because mold had started to grow in their flooded homes. Storr knows it's not the last time she'll experience a catastrophic storm. "Unfortunately, with climate change, one of the fears that we have is that they may be more severe in intensity," she says—a fear supported by years of climate research. A new study published in Nature Medicine looks directly at the human health impacts from severe weather like hurricanes, floods, and intense storms. The study examined Medicare records before and after weather disasters that incurred more than $1 billion of damages from 2011 to 2016. The analysis didn't include Hurricane Dorian, but it finds exactly what Storr saw: emergency admissions, and even deaths, are higher than expected for days and weeks after storms. "Based off experience that we've seen unfold in the U.S. and elsewhere, we see that there's destruction and disruption to our ability to deliver the high-quality care we want to give patients in the weeks following the weather disasters," says Renee Salas, an emergency department physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. She's also a researcher at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the study's lead author. The study found that six weeks after a storm, the death rate in counties with the greatest destruction was 2 to 4 times higher than in less impacted areas. That's a big jump—and those deaths, Salas says, likely went uncounted in the official death tolls. Emergency departments saw significant upticks in admissions for about two weeks following most major disasters. They could expect about 1,100 extra people to come through their doors in the first week after an average-sized hurricane, and about 30 additional deaths in the first week after a severe storm. The study focused on what happened after extreme weather events that cause more than $1 billion in damage every year. That's a category that has grown steadily over the past decade, driven in part by climate change which can worsen weather phenomena like hurricanes, severe storms, and floods. The U.S. Census Bureau recently estimated 2.5 million Americans were forced from their homes by weather disasters in 2023. In that year alone, the costs of damages to homes, roads, and other infrastructure from extreme weather totaled over $90 billion. Because health costs aren't folded into that number, it's probably an underestimate, Salas points out. Salas's team compared Medicare data from before and after storms or floods in counties that experienced significant economic damage. They looked from 2011 to 2016—a period that included Hurricanes Sandy and Irene and major storms in the Midwest in 2012. The researchers didn't include weather disasters like wildfires and droughts, because the long duration of such events complicates the statistical analyses. They also did not include heat despite heat killing more people in the U.S. than any other type of weather disaster. That's because the billion-dollar disaster database, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration compiles, notably does not include most extreme heat events. Similar analyses of post-disaster health impacts have been done for individual storms or disasters, says Kai Chen, an environmental health researcher at Yale University. But they rarely look out more than a few days. Chen says this new study—which looked at many disasters over several years — shows that the human costs of extreme weather are drastically undercounted. Even the new Harvard analysis likely "could be a conservative number," Chen says. Medicare covers only about 20% of the U.S. population. More people are likely being affected than were captured in the study. Chen says adding in smaller storms, heat, or wildfire health impacts would balloon the numbers. Weather disasters have "pronounced human impacts," says Greg Wellenius, an environmental epidemiologist at Boston University. He thinks that identifying those real costs, and tracking them more systematically, will help policymakers, hospital directors, and city planners figure out how to "build resilience in our communities to help protect people today and into the future," he says. Salas remembers a patient who came directly to the emergency department in Boston after getting off a plane from Puerto Rico a few weeks after Hurricane Maria in 2017. She had a ziplock baggie full of empty prescription bottles. Pharmacies on the island didn't have her medications. Salas says it was a clear example of the underappreciated impacts of extreme weather on health. "Given that billion-dollar disasters have intensified and become much more frequent in the subsequent years, this is something we need to get a handle on," says Salas. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations at the National Weather Service, about the higher stakes of weather predictions in an era of climate change. LEILA FADEL, HOST: Weather forecasters from around the world are gathering in Baltimore this week for the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society. Try saying that five times fast.STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: You just said it great - American Meteorological Society.FADEL: (Laughter).INSKEEP: All right.FADEL: They meet at a time when the stakes for forecasters have never been higher. Climate change is bringing extreme heat and more powerful storms. Making sure the forecast is right and that the public listens to it can be a matter of life or death.Greg Carbin is attending the conference. He's the chief of forecast operations at the National Weather Service, and he joins me now. Good morning, Greg.GREG CARBIN: Good morning, Leila.FADEL: So are meteorologists feeling the pressure to improve their forecasts amid these extreme weather events?CARBIN: Well, I think it is a - it can be, at times, a stressful job, for sure, predicting the future. But overall, I think meteorology is a great good-news story for science. The improvements we've seen in forecasts are remarkable.FADEL: I mean, the weather, though, is so erratic. I was walking around in a T-shirt in 80-degree weather the other day here in D.C. in January, just after freezing temperatures and snow. With these swings, does it make it harder at all?CARBIN: It can. The pattern can go into regimes that are generally quite predictable, especially during the summertime with heat waves. Those are very predictable events that we can see many days in advance. And once they're locked in, really, these day-to-day forecasts don't change very much. However, the danger can increase with extended heat, as we saw last summer.Quick-moving systems, like we saw in the mid-Atlantic last week with snow followed by unusual warmth, can be more difficult to predict and actually even more difficult to adjust to from one swing to the next. But overall, forecasts have improved dramatically in recent years, and the ability to foresee these changes is actually quite good in the meteorology that we use today.FADEL: Now, you describe a lot of good news there - that, really, the science is there. But a University of Arizona study last year said that a one-degree difference in a forecast accuracy during a heat wave can be the difference between life and death and that if you could improve the forecast by 50%, then you could save over 2,000 lives. I mean, is that even feasible?CARBIN: It is. But at the same time, what's more important, perhaps, in these dangerous, hazardous weather forecasts is getting the message out. I think the public generally understands there's inherent uncertainty in forecasting the weather, but also that weather forecasters, especially local forecasters, broadcast meteorologists, are some of the most trusted scientists that we have. People really do trust the message that they're getting. And so it's key that the forecast information be translated by broadcasters and others to the communities that need the information.FADEL: Is that a challenge, getting that information to where it needs to be?CARBIN: It's a huge challenge, and it becomes more of a challenge every day, almost, as more and more information is available that needs to be pored over by experts and basically translated in a way that can be understood by various publics.FADEL: You said various publics. When you think about those who often don't get access to this information, who are they?CARBIN: Well, there's a lot of folks that are living in vulnerable areas. And there's - there are language issues, translation issues. Some of the more vulnerable locations include coastal areas, where we see sea level rise causing a problem with increasing storm surge and damage along the coast. We also see, you know, unfortunate levels of poverty in parts of the country that are most susceptible to dangerous storms and climate change, especially heat waves in the South, severe storms in the Midwest. Those are some of the populations that need to get the message early so that they can begin to take some actions and build resilience into those communities.FADEL: Greg Carbin is the chief of forecast operations at the National Weather Service. Thank you.CARBIN: Thank you. LEILA FADEL, HOST: Weather forecasters from around the world are gathering in Baltimore this week for the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society. Try saying that five times fast. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: You just said it great - American Meteorological Society. FADEL: (Laughter). INSKEEP: All right. FADEL: They meet at a time when the stakes for forecasters have never been higher. Climate change is bringing extreme heat and more powerful storms. Making sure the forecast is right and that the public listens to it can be a matter of life or death. Greg Carbin is attending the conference. He's the chief of forecast operations at the National Weather Service, and he joins me now. Good morning, Greg. GREG CARBIN: Good morning, Leila. FADEL: So are meteorologists feeling the pressure to improve their forecasts amid these extreme weather events? CARBIN: Well, I think it is a - it can be, at times, a stressful job, for sure, predicting the future. But overall, I think meteorology is a great good-news story for science. The improvements we've seen in forecasts are remarkable. FADEL: I mean, the weather, though, is so erratic. I was walking around in a T-shirt in 80-degree weather the other day here in D.C. in January, just after freezing temperatures and snow. With these swings, does it make it harder at all? CARBIN: It can. The pattern can go into regimes that are generally quite predictable, especially during the summertime with heat waves. Those are very predictable events that we can see many days in advance. And once they're locked in, really, these day-to-day forecasts don't change very much. However, the danger can increase with extended heat, as we saw last summer. Quick-moving systems, like we saw in the mid-Atlantic last week with snow followed by unusual warmth, can be more difficult to predict and actually even more difficult to adjust to from one swing to the next. But overall, forecasts have improved dramatically in recent years, and the ability to foresee these changes is actually quite good in the meteorology that we use today. FADEL: Now, you describe a lot of good news there - that, really, the science is there. But a University of Arizona study last year said that a one-degree difference in a forecast accuracy during a heat wave can be the difference between life and death and that if you could improve the forecast by 50%, then you could save over 2,000 lives. I mean, is that even feasible? CARBIN: It is. But at the same time, what's more important, perhaps, in these dangerous, hazardous weather forecasts is getting the message out. I think the public generally understands there's inherent uncertainty in forecasting the weather, but also that weather forecasters, especially local forecasters, broadcast meteorologists, are some of the most trusted scientists that we have. People really do trust the message that they're getting. And so it's key that the forecast information be translated by broadcasters and others to the communities that need the information. FADEL: Is that a challenge, getting that information to where it needs to be? CARBIN: It's a huge challenge, and it becomes more of a challenge every day, almost, as more and more information is available that needs to be pored over by experts and basically translated in a way that can be understood by various publics. FADEL: You said various publics. When you think about those who often don't get access to this information, who are they? CARBIN: Well, there's a lot of folks that are living in vulnerable areas. And there's - there are language issues, translation issues. Some of the more vulnerable locations include coastal areas, where we see sea level rise causing a problem with increasing storm surge and damage along the coast. We also see, you know, unfortunate levels of poverty in parts of the country that are most susceptible to dangerous storms and climate change, especially heat waves in the South, severe storms in the Midwest. Those are some of the populations that need to get the message early so that they can begin to take some actions and build resilience into those communities. FADEL: Greg Carbin is the chief of forecast operations at the National Weather Service. Thank you. CARBIN: Thank you. Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Janet W. Lee When three fifth-graders in Washington state sat down to make a podcast, they didn't have to look far to find a good topic. "Wildfires are a problem and they're dangerous," they say in their podcast from Chautauqua Elementary School, on Vashon Island. "But there's ways to prevent them, so respect wildfire safety precautions and do your best to prevent these fires." This entry from Roz Hinds, Jia Khurana and Sadie Pritsky was among more than 100 podcasts this year in NPR's Student Podcast Challenge that touched on a topic that's increasingly important to young people: climate change. Over and over again, student journalists tried making sense of extreme weather events that are becoming more common or more intense: flash floods, hurricanes, droughts, wildfires. Here are four student podcasts that offer a glimpse into the minds of students and what they have to say about climate-related news in their communities — and what they hope to do about it. Behind the Scenes of the Mosquito FireIn a 10-episode series, a sixth-grade class at the Georgetown School of Innovation in Georgetown, Calif., shares stories from the devastating Mosquito Fire in 2022. This group of eight students asks two firefighters from the Georgetown Fire Department what it's like to fight fires and protect loved ones in their hometown. Fires: Set AblazeAt Chautauqua Elementary, the Vashon fifth-graders talk about the far-reaching and lasting impact of wildfires and wildfire smoke — and the direct effects on their lives, like waiting for the school bus on a smoky day. The students also interview experts and share their research on wildfire precautions. Flowing Through Time: The Past, Present, and Future of WaterIn this podcast from Peak Academy, a group of eight middle schoolers reports on dealing with water shortages in Bozeman, Montana. They trace the history of their growing hometown's water supply, which has been dependent on mountain snowmelt. As that source becomes less reliable in a warming world, the students turn to the grown-ups to ask what they can do to conserve water. Washed AwayThe deadly flooding in eastern Kentucky last year forever changed the lives of high schoolers Ryley Bowman, Carolina Johnson and Hunter Noble. The three classmates at Morgan County High School in West Liberty, Ky., share firsthand accounts of their own and their family's experiences during the floods. Loading... Audio story produced by Michael LevittVisual design and development by LA JohnsonEdited by Steve Drummond and Rachel Waldholz Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Aya Batrawy ,  Ruth Sherlock People check an area damaged by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Monday. AFP via Getty Images hide caption People check an area damaged by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Monday. Officials in Libya say at least hundreds of people have died and thousands are feared missing in the eastern part of the country after a powerful storm swept across its mountainous terrains and coastline. The storm destroyed two dams and unleashed a torrent of fast-running muddy water that carried buildings, homes and entire families away. Libyan National Army spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said late Monday more than 2,000 people had been killed from floodwaters in the city of Derna alone after Storm Daniel made landfall on Sunday, and thousands there were still missing. The Associated Press cited eastern Libya's health minister as saying more than 1,000 victims' bodies were collected so far. Libyan officials are struggling to reach many areas, making it difficult to confirm exact numbers of dead or missing, and estimates have ranged widely. Loading... Local emergency responders, including troops, government workers, volunteers and residents are digging through rubble to recover the dead. Some have used inflatable boats to retrieve bodies from the water. The regional capital Benghazi has become a hub for aid arriving from abroad. Egypt, which borders Libya to the east, has sent military teams and helicopters, and its military chief of staff visited to assess the situation and coordinate relief efforts. Egypt is also sending three planes carrying medical and food supplies, 25 rescue teams and equipment, and is sending another plane for medical evacuations. Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates also promised help for search and rescue efforts. A view of devastation in disaster zones after the floods caused by the Storm Daniel ravaged the region, on Monday, in Derna, Libya. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption A view of devastation in disaster zones after the floods caused by the Storm Daniel ravaged the region, on Monday, in Derna, Libya. "The citizens who left Derna and the affected areas left as though they were born today, without anything. All their belongings are gone," al-Mismari said. "There are those who lost their families, those who lost part of their family." Tens of thousands of people are homeless and have been displaced by the storm in different parts of eastern Libya, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council's country director for Libya, Dax Roque. The eastern city of Derna appears to be the hardest hit by Storm Daniel, which gained strength as it crossed the Mediterranean before making landfall on Libya over the weekend. The city was flooded after two dams broke. "The situation was honestly completely unexpected. It is the first time we experience something like this," al-Mismari said, noting that the last major natural disaster to hit Libya was an earthquake 60 years ago. People check an area damaged by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Monday. AFP via Getty Images hide caption People check an area damaged by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Monday. Roads that once connected cities in the east are completely inaccessible, either destroyed or under water. Others are partly inaccessible, he said. This, combined with the mountainous terrain of areas like Jebel Akhdar in the northeast, have made it difficult for search and rescue teams to reach affected areas, al-Mismari said. With internet and phone connectivity in affected areas spotty at best, the outside world is partly relying on social media videos from affected areas to show the scale of the devastation. Some videos show bodies lying in the streets outside a morgue in Derna. Other videos show rescue workers trying to pull a man to safety as brown flood waters flow quickly, covering roads and flooding farmland. Other videos show cars piled atop one another in heaps of twisted metal. Homes and bridges that once stood as markers of the city are now gone, turned to rubble. Roque, of the NRC in Libya, says this latest disaster will exacerbate the situation for Libyans who have already endured years of conflict, poverty and displacement. "Hospitals and shelters will be overstretched amidst the large wave of displacement," he said in a statement, urging for greater international aid for Libya. A view of the city of Derna is seen on Tuesday. Mediterranean Storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns, the destruction appeared greatest in Derna city. Jamal Alkomaty/AP hide caption A view of the city of Derna is seen on Tuesday. Mediterranean Storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns, the destruction appeared greatest in Derna city. The country's infrastructure was not equipped to deal with such a massive catastrophe following years of conflict and instability. Libya is ruled by two rival governments, one in the east and the other in the capital, Tripoli. The oil-exporting country has in recent years also become a major transit route for illegal migration to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, underscoring the corruption and disarray in parts of the country following the ouster from power and killing of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Libya's National Army says foreigners are among the dead, and that a number of civil defense and Libyan soldiers involved in rescue operations have also been killed. It's unclear how many foreigners or soldiers have died in the floods. Still, spokesman al-Mismari said the people of Libya have proven they are "one people" in this time of need, with official and unofficial aid coming from areas under rival government control, including Tripoli, Misrata and others. The Libyan National Army, for which al-Mismari is a spokesperson, is in control of the east. The United States says it stands ready to support Libya with humanitarian aid and is assessing how best to do so. Aya Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Ruth Sherlock reported from Rome.

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By  Erika Ryan ,  Christopher Intagliata ,  Ailsa Chang NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Anthony Leiserowitz with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication about what the climate disasters this summer mean for society's perception of climate change. AILSA CHANG, HOST: This July and August were the hottest months ever recorded. Scientists say this summer's major heat waves would be virtually impossible had humans not heated up the planet by burning fossil fuels. Add to that this year's extreme floods and wildfires, also fueled by climate change, and it begs the question - are those extreme temperatures and disasters a wake-up call for humanity? Anthony Leiserowitz is founder and director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, and I asked him if this marks a turning point for how people here in the U.S. perceive and think about climate change.ANTHONY LEISEROWITZ: So we've been tracking how Americans are responding for the past 15 years. And so I think it's actually part of a larger trend, in that we've seen that Americans are increasingly convinced that climate change is happening. In our most - latest national study, it was 74%. They're increasingly convinced it's human-caused. It was most recently at 61%. And they're growing increasingly worried. So about two-thirds of Americans say that they're now worried about climate change, and these particular kinds of extreme weather events, which are just hitting us over and over again like a two-by-four to the forehead, are starting to actually really come through. People are starting to wake up and really say, oh, my gosh, something's really going on here.CHANG: And let me ask you - this wake-up call - I mean, does being personally affected by one of these disasters, whether it's extreme heat or a flood or a fire - how much does that personal experience change people's perception of climate change?LEISEROWITZ: So I would say there's really two important components here. One is that personal experience or also, to be honest, is the vicarious experience, like the stories that we hear from our friends, our families and from the media. But that second piece is actually helping people interpret these events. Human beings don't just simply experience a heat wave and immediately, on their own, say, oh, this is climate change. So there - it's so important that all of us help people understand that, yes, in fact, climate change is making these events both more frequent and more severe.CHANG: You put your finger on something, and that is the effects of climate change are still being felt unevenly around the world. Like, even as people in some parts of America may only now be seeing these disasters in their backyards, there are people in other places who've been dealing with these consequences for years, right? Like, I know you've been studying how people in the Arctic have been grappling with climate change for years and years.LEISEROWITZ: Yes. So the science-fiction writer William Gibson famously said, the future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed. And people in the Arctic, even 20 years ago, were experiencing 2 to 4 times the rate of warming as the rest of the world. Unfortunately, now 20 years later, we're all starting to really experience these impacts globally. For many years, it was seen as what we call psychologically distant. People thought it was distant in time - like, maybe the impacts would happen in a generation, so maybe to my grandkids - or distant in space. This was about polar bears or maybe developing countries but not the United States, not my community, not my friends, family or me. That basic perception has begun to shift pretty dramatically as these events start to roll out across America. And people are beginning to really connect the dots and say, actually, this is happening right here, right now, to the people and places that I care about.CHANG: And you're finding not only are people caring more about climate change - you're finding that a small subset of Americans are actually feeling pretty extreme anxiety about climate change, right? Like, how is that anxiety manifesting?LEISEROWITZ: So yes, we've been starting to study what we call now climate anxiety. And we found that there's about 3% of Americans - so not that large proportionally, but that's still about 10 million people - who are basically suffering what we would call debilitating levels of climate anxiety, where it's affecting their daily lives, you know? They're so depressed that they can't, you know, even think about the future. It's interfering with the daily activities.But beyond that, there's a larger set of maybe 8% of Americans who are at least experiencing one of the features of this or the attributes of this. And what we find, really interestingly, is that those people are far more likely to be taking action to address climate change. They're more likely to be making changes in their own lives to change their energy use or to put solar panels on their roof or to buy an electric vehicle or to change their diet. They're far more likely to actually be getting involved with organizations demanding change on climate change, and they're also more likely to vote. So they're taking action both personally and as part of our collective society to demand the system level changes that, of course, are crucial.CHANG: Well, those actions sound reassuring, but is there also the possibility that some people will become so worried or so anxious about climate change that it leads them to think there's nothing they can do or that it's just too late, and they respond with just straight-up apathy or just resignation?LEISEROWITZ: So we've been tracking that for years and years now. And I will say the good news is that there's actually a very small proportion of Americans who are what we call fatalist - that they've reached the point of saying that there's no point. We can't change this. We can't make any difference. So it's just to say that I think most people are actually asking a very different question, and that is, what can I do? And what can we, collectively, do to actually solve this problem?CHANG: Well, among all the solutions that we've - already have on hand to help humanity mitigate or adapt to climate change, is there one solution that stands out for you - besides just reducing emissions, of course?LEISEROWITZ: Yeah, reducing emissions is going to be critical. The other - because, again, we've kind of wasted a few decades - is that we need to be much more serious about preparing ourselves for impacts because, unfortunately, they're going to get worse before they get better.The last thing, though, I'll just emphasize is that all of us - every single person has a superpower to address this issue, and that is to talk about it. As human beings, we are social animals. We constantly are paying attention to what other people around us do and say. And what we know is that you do not get change in our own lives or in collective social lives unless we talk about the problems that are really important to us. It doesn't matter whether you're a kid, you're a grandmother, whatever - you can make a difference, if only by talking about it. And that's just the first step to all the other things that you can do.CHANG: Talking about it makes it more real. Anthony Leiserowitz is founder and director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment. Thank you so much.LEISEROWITZ: Thank you, Ailsa. It was great to be with you. AILSA CHANG, HOST: This July and August were the hottest months ever recorded. Scientists say this summer's major heat waves would be virtually impossible had humans not heated up the planet by burning fossil fuels. Add to that this year's extreme floods and wildfires, also fueled by climate change, and it begs the question - are those extreme temperatures and disasters a wake-up call for humanity? Anthony Leiserowitz is founder and director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, and I asked him if this marks a turning point for how people here in the U.S. perceive and think about climate change. ANTHONY LEISEROWITZ: So we've been tracking how Americans are responding for the past 15 years. And so I think it's actually part of a larger trend, in that we've seen that Americans are increasingly convinced that climate change is happening. In our most - latest national study, it was 74%. They're increasingly convinced it's human-caused. It was most recently at 61%. And they're growing increasingly worried. So about two-thirds of Americans say that they're now worried about climate change, and these particular kinds of extreme weather events, which are just hitting us over and over again like a two-by-four to the forehead, are starting to actually really come through. People are starting to wake up and really say, oh, my gosh, something's really going on here. CHANG: And let me ask you - this wake-up call - I mean, does being personally affected by one of these disasters, whether it's extreme heat or a flood or a fire - how much does that personal experience change people's perception of climate change? LEISEROWITZ: So I would say there's really two important components here. One is that personal experience or also, to be honest, is the vicarious experience, like the stories that we hear from our friends, our families and from the media. But that second piece is actually helping people interpret these events. Human beings don't just simply experience a heat wave and immediately, on their own, say, oh, this is climate change. So there - it's so important that all of us help people understand that, yes, in fact, climate change is making these events both more frequent and more severe. CHANG: You put your finger on something, and that is the effects of climate change are still being felt unevenly around the world. Like, even as people in some parts of America may only now be seeing these disasters in their backyards, there are people in other places who've been dealing with these consequences for years, right? Like, I know you've been studying how people in the Arctic have been grappling with climate change for years and years. LEISEROWITZ: Yes. So the science-fiction writer William Gibson famously said, the future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed. And people in the Arctic, even 20 years ago, were experiencing 2 to 4 times the rate of warming as the rest of the world. Unfortunately, now 20 years later, we're all starting to really experience these impacts globally. For many years, it was seen as what we call psychologically distant. People thought it was distant in time - like, maybe the impacts would happen in a generation, so maybe to my grandkids - or distant in space. This was about polar bears or maybe developing countries but not the United States, not my community, not my friends, family or me. That basic perception has begun to shift pretty dramatically as these events start to roll out across America. And people are beginning to really connect the dots and say, actually, this is happening right here, right now, to the people and places that I care about. CHANG: And you're finding not only are people caring more about climate change - you're finding that a small subset of Americans are actually feeling pretty extreme anxiety about climate change, right? Like, how is that anxiety manifesting? LEISEROWITZ: So yes, we've been starting to study what we call now climate anxiety. And we found that there's about 3% of Americans - so not that large proportionally, but that's still about 10 million people - who are basically suffering what we would call debilitating levels of climate anxiety, where it's affecting their daily lives, you know? They're so depressed that they can't, you know, even think about the future. It's interfering with the daily activities. But beyond that, there's a larger set of maybe 8% of Americans who are at least experiencing one of the features of this or the attributes of this. And what we find, really interestingly, is that those people are far more likely to be taking action to address climate change. They're more likely to be making changes in their own lives to change their energy use or to put solar panels on their roof or to buy an electric vehicle or to change their diet. They're far more likely to actually be getting involved with organizations demanding change on climate change, and they're also more likely to vote. So they're taking action both personally and as part of our collective society to demand the system level changes that, of course, are crucial. CHANG: Well, those actions sound reassuring, but is there also the possibility that some people will become so worried or so anxious about climate change that it leads them to think there's nothing they can do or that it's just too late, and they respond with just straight-up apathy or just resignation? LEISEROWITZ: So we've been tracking that for years and years now. And I will say the good news is that there's actually a very small proportion of Americans who are what we call fatalist - that they've reached the point of saying that there's no point. We can't change this. We can't make any difference. So it's just to say that I think most people are actually asking a very different question, and that is, what can I do? And what can we, collectively, do to actually solve this problem? CHANG: Well, among all the solutions that we've - already have on hand to help humanity mitigate or adapt to climate change, is there one solution that stands out for you - besides just reducing emissions, of course? LEISEROWITZ: Yeah, reducing emissions is going to be critical. The other - because, again, we've kind of wasted a few decades - is that we need to be much more serious about preparing ourselves for impacts because, unfortunately, they're going to get worse before they get better. The last thing, though, I'll just emphasize is that all of us - every single person has a superpower to address this issue, and that is to talk about it. As human beings, we are social animals. We constantly are paying attention to what other people around us do and say. And what we know is that you do not get change in our own lives or in collective social lives unless we talk about the problems that are really important to us. It doesn't matter whether you're a kid, you're a grandmother, whatever - you can make a difference, if only by talking about it. And that's just the first step to all the other things that you can do. CHANG: Talking about it makes it more real. Anthony Leiserowitz is founder and director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment. Thank you so much. LEISEROWITZ: Thank you, Ailsa. It was great to be with you. Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Carrie Kahn An aerial view of an area affected by an extratropical cyclone in Muçum, in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, on Tuesday. Authorities are warning there could be more flooding to come. Mateus Bruxel/Agencia RBS/AFP via Getty Images hide caption RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A powerful cyclone ravaged southern Brazil, killing at least 27 people and displacing hundreds, local officials said Wednesday morning, raising the death toll as more victims have been discovered. Most of the fatalities were in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, with an additional victim found in neighboring Santa Catarina. The extratropical cyclone slammed into the region beginning Monday night, dumping more than 11 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Heavy winds caused extreme damage and hundreds fled rising rivers for higher ground. Brazil's National Institute of Meteorology has warned that more rainfall is on its way, with expectations of further flooding. In the town of Muçum, where 85% was underwater, many residents were rescued by helicopters from rooftops. Police officers check a house as residents wade through a flooded street after floods caused by a cyclone in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Monday. Diogo Zanatta/Futura Press/AP hide caption Police officers check a house as residents wade through a flooded street after floods caused by a cyclone in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Monday. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to do whatever is necessary to "save people from these problems." Authorities point to warming weather from climate change for the extreme rainfall. There are many factors that can cause extreme weather, however a warming climate makes intense rainfall more likely. In February, at least 40 people died in flooding and landslides in São Paulo state. Lula has vowed to reach zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, since returning to office this year. The Amazon's trees absorb carbon and are seen as vital to combat global warming. Deforestation levels under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, had skyrocketed. The government announced this week that deforestation dropped 66% in August over the previous year's figures. That comes on the heels of similar deforestation declines in July. That is good news since numbers usually increase during the hot dry months. Brazil's environment minister also announced the demarcation of two new Indigenous reserves. Environmentalists and Indigenous leaders say the move is vital legal protection for native peoples who resist illegal mining and encroaching agriculture on their lands, both drivers of deforestation. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Rachel Treisman Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day. Former President Donald Trump says he will voluntarily turn himself in in Fulton County, Georgia on Thursday — the day after the first Republican primary debate, which he is skipping. The Republican National Committee confirmed on Monday that eight candidates qualified for the debate. While Trump leads the polls, he is not on that list. He is reportedly planning to sit for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson instead. The Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, pictured on Thursday. Christian Monterrosa/AFP via Getty Images hide caption The Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, pictured on Thursday. President Biden visited Maui yesterday to view the widespread damage from the deadly wildfires and pledge federal support for its recovery, saying it will be there for "as long as it takes." He said the historic town of Lahaina should be rebuilt the way residents want it — but, as NPR's Jennifer Ludden tells Up First from Maui, many are concerned that longtime residents will lose land to developers. Maui, an expensive housing market to begin with, was experiencing a housing shortage even before the fires. The BRICS group of emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — kicks off its annual summit today in Johannesburg. China's Xi Jinping will attend in person, while Russia's Vladimir Putin will join virtually — and the U.S. and Europe will be watching closely. Reporter Kate Bartlett tells Morning Edition from Johannesburg that there are two main issues on the agenda: the bloc's desire to move away from U.S. dollar dominance and its possible expansion to include more countries. This summer has seen a relentless stream of extreme weather, from hurricanes to wildfires to heat waves — and climate change is making these intense events more common. The last nine years are the hottest nine years ever recorded on Earth, and those warmer temperatures are driving disasters, NPR climate reporter Rebecca Hersher explains. A Martínez's visit to a Los Angeles grocery store before Tropical Storm Hilary reminded him of the early days of the pandemic. A Martínez/NPR hide caption A Martínez's visit to a Los Angeles grocery store before Tropical Storm Hilary reminded him of the early days of the pandemic. This essay was written by A Martínez. He came to NPR in 2021 and is one of Morning Edition and Up First's hosts. He was previously the host of Take Two at LAist in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was not built to handle rain. Even a little bit causes all kinds of headaches. Some are just little annoyances such as even worse traffic than there normally is here, and others are way more serious like mudslides and flooding. All that is to say in LA, the mere threat of rain causes panic, so you can imagine what the first ever tropical storm warning in California's modern history sparked. Saturday at the grocery store was like the start of the pandemic in 2020. Shelves empty. People sweeping up bottled drinking water and produce as if the supply chain just snapped. Then on Sunday, I got so sucked in by the Hurricane Hilary hype that I stayed at home all day just staring out the window waiting for Noah's Ark to drift down my street. While it did rain a lot and shake a bit (there was an earthquake that I slept through) it turned out to be just a rare rainy day in LA which brought all the same aggravations that any other rainy day in LA would have. Except that some people are way over stocked with toilet paper. Dr. Austin Dennard, center, stands between fellow plaintiffs, Dr. Damla Karsan, left, and Samantha Casiano, outside a courthouse in Austin where their case was heard on July 20. Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images hide caption Dr. Austin Dennard, center, stands between fellow plaintiffs, Dr. Damla Karsan, left, and Samantha Casiano, outside a courthouse in Austin where their case was heard on July 20. Dallas-based OB-GYN Dr. Austin Dennard is one of 13 women suing Texas over its abortion bans, arguing they're unclear when it comes to pregnancy complications. She's also pregnant. Dennard traveled to the East Coast for an abortion last summer after learning she was carrying a fetus with a fatal condition. Now she's awaiting both the birth of her third child and the next step in the legal battle. She says "putting it all out there in such a raw way" is difficult — but energizing, too. Read the story and listen to it here. Kevin Ford attributes his work ethic to his father who worked in the Air Force, as well as his mother who raised him and his six siblings. Kevin Ford hide caption Kevin Ford attributes his work ethic to his father who worked in the Air Force, as well as his mother who raised him and his six siblings. This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Michel Martin ,  Rebecca Hersher Temperature records are falling left and right. Wildfires, hurricanes, heat waves and droughts are exacerbated by human-caused climate change. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: There is no ignoring this - extreme weather events that are disrupting so many lives this summer and, in too many cases, taking lives.A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: Yeah, listen to this list - intense wildfires in Hawaii, in Washington state and across Canada, a former hurricane that has walloped Mexico, California and Nevada and now threatens Oregon and Idaho and a suffocating heat wave across the central and Southern U.S.MARTIN: Rebecca Hersher from NPR's Climate Desk is here to tell us more about this. Good morning, Rebecca.REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE: Good morning.MARTIN: OK, so let's just say it. This isn't just bad luck, is it?HERSHER: No, no, not at all. You know, it's all related to human-caused climate change. Climate change does not cause extreme events, right? But really intense fires and hurricanes - it makes them more likely and more common. So as the earth heats up, we increasingly get these years, especially summers, where it feels like disaster on disaster on disaster, all of them driven in part by warmer temperatures. So, for example, hurricanes - they've always happened. But when the ocean is abnormally hot at the surface, it helps hurricanes grow. We are seeing that right now in both the Pacific, where Hurricane Hilary formed, and in the Atlantic, where there are multiple potential storms right now. The same is true for wildfires. Wildfires are an important part of healthy forest ecosystems, but drought and heat can make them burn more widely, make them burn more intensely than in the past. So if it feels like it can't be normal, it's not. Or it didn't used to be.MARTIN: So is this a preview of our future on a planet that's heating up?HERSHER: You know, in some ways, I think yes, especially in August. You know, it can be a stark reminder of climate change for millions of people in the U.S. this time of year because there is so much extreme weather. But it's not like this year is that exceptional, to be frank, especially if you zoom out and look at the planet as a whole. Last year, there were record-breaking hurricanes and wildfires and heat waves. The year before that, same deal, the year before that and the year before that. And I say that not to minimize it but to give the context. You know, the last nine years are the hottest nine years ever recorded on planet Earth. Climate change is just relentlessly wreaking havoc on people everywhere. It's just a matter of when that extreme weather will come for you and arrive in your community.MARTIN: Is it possible to avoid even more catastrophic effects?HERSHER: You know, it is. The big thing is to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stop burning oil and gas and coal, transition to wind and solar. Scientists say that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade and get all the way to basically zero by 2050. Right now, it is not clear that there's political will to do that. There's an array of fossil fuel and corporate interests that are slowing things down. The other thing to remember, though, is that even though climate change does make the weather more intense, we can lessen the damage by building our homes and our cities and our electrical grids in resilient ways, by having emergency plans that keep climate-driven weather in mind because it's going to keep happening, by preparing and protecting those who are most vulnerable to this weather. You know, I'm thinking about floods like the ones in California this week or the fire in Maui. The weather was related to climate change to varying degrees. But how we prepare for and react to that weather can determine who lives and who dies.MARTIN: That's Rebecca Hersher from NPR's Climate Desk. Rebecca, thanks so much once again.HERSHER: Thanks. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: There is no ignoring this - extreme weather events that are disrupting so many lives this summer and, in too many cases, taking lives. A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: Yeah, listen to this list - intense wildfires in Hawaii, in Washington state and across Canada, a former hurricane that has walloped Mexico, California and Nevada and now threatens Oregon and Idaho and a suffocating heat wave across the central and Southern U.S. MARTIN: Rebecca Hersher from NPR's Climate Desk is here to tell us more about this. Good morning, Rebecca. REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE: Good morning. MARTIN: OK, so let's just say it. This isn't just bad luck, is it? HERSHER: No, no, not at all. You know, it's all related to human-caused climate change. Climate change does not cause extreme events, right? But really intense fires and hurricanes - it makes them more likely and more common. So as the earth heats up, we increasingly get these years, especially summers, where it feels like disaster on disaster on disaster, all of them driven in part by warmer temperatures. So, for example, hurricanes - they've always happened. But when the ocean is abnormally hot at the surface, it helps hurricanes grow. We are seeing that right now in both the Pacific, where Hurricane Hilary formed, and in the Atlantic, where there are multiple potential storms right now. The same is true for wildfires. Wildfires are an important part of healthy forest ecosystems, but drought and heat can make them burn more widely, make them burn more intensely than in the past. So if it feels like it can't be normal, it's not. Or it didn't used to be. MARTIN: So is this a preview of our future on a planet that's heating up? HERSHER: You know, in some ways, I think yes, especially in August. You know, it can be a stark reminder of climate change for millions of people in the U.S. this time of year because there is so much extreme weather. But it's not like this year is that exceptional, to be frank, especially if you zoom out and look at the planet as a whole. Last year, there were record-breaking hurricanes and wildfires and heat waves. The year before that, same deal, the year before that and the year before that. And I say that not to minimize it but to give the context. You know, the last nine years are the hottest nine years ever recorded on planet Earth. Climate change is just relentlessly wreaking havoc on people everywhere. It's just a matter of when that extreme weather will come for you and arrive in your community. MARTIN: Is it possible to avoid even more catastrophic effects? HERSHER: You know, it is. The big thing is to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stop burning oil and gas and coal, transition to wind and solar. Scientists say that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade and get all the way to basically zero by 2050. Right now, it is not clear that there's political will to do that. There's an array of fossil fuel and corporate interests that are slowing things down. The other thing to remember, though, is that even though climate change does make the weather more intense, we can lessen the damage by building our homes and our cities and our electrical grids in resilient ways, by having emergency plans that keep climate-driven weather in mind because it's going to keep happening, by preparing and protecting those who are most vulnerable to this weather. You know, I'm thinking about floods like the ones in California this week or the fire in Maui. The weather was related to climate change to varying degrees. But how we prepare for and react to that weather can determine who lives and who dies. MARTIN: That's Rebecca Hersher from NPR's Climate Desk. Rebecca, thanks so much once again. HERSHER: Thanks. Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Advertisement <iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/07/13/climate-change-economic-impact"></iframe> We're hearing so many stories about extreme weather this summer, but we want to assess the big picture. Today, we discuss the growing economic impacts of climate change and extreme weather. Host Robin Young speaks with MSNBC anchor and economics correspondent Ali Velshi. This segment aired on July 13, 2023. Advertisement

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With much of the U.S. facing extreme weather, NASA chief scientist and senior climate adviser Kate Calvin talks to NPR's A Martinez about what we can expect as global temperatures continue to rise. A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: We're seeing some wild weather across the U.S. this week, from scorching temperatures in the Southwest to catastrophic flooding in the Northeast. NASA chief scientist and senior climate adviser Kate Calvin is closely watching these weather events, and I asked her if this is our new normal.KATE CALVIN: We are seeing increases in temperature over time. So 2022 is about two degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the late 19th century average. And what we know from science is that warming is going to continue. How much warmer it gets depends on actions taken and how much emissions there are in the future.MARTÍNEZ: And if climate change continues at the pace that we're observing right now, I mean, what kinds of weather events might we experience maybe a decade or two decades from now? Are we talking about a disaster movie from Hollywood?CALVIN: Well, so how much future warming we experience depends on future emissions. So we know that the warming we've experienced up until now is driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. There's a large community of people that look at what future climate might look like, and they look at very different warming levels - everything from looking at what if we were to keep warming around 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit and going up above that. And what you see from that is that impacts rise with warming. And so how much more impacts we experience depends on how much more warming we experience. How much more warming we see in the future depends on future emissions.MARTÍNEZ: You know, hotter temperatures and erosion on coastlines or stuff that we see in the news all the time, things that are tangible that we experience - what are some things that are related to climate change, Kate, that maybe we aren't thinking about quite yet? Things like maybe diseases or migration of people around the world.CALVIN: So one of the things, you know, a lot of ecosystems and animal species - they're adapted to a particular climate. And even small changes in warming can change their geographic extent or how they function. And so I think thinking about things like biodiversity and ecosystems, and some of that carries with it implications for human in terms of the human health and other factors, and so thinking about that, I think we often don't always think about the fact that a small change in temperature can affect the way an ecosystem or species functions.MARTÍNEZ: Kate, where at all do you see any hope?CALVIN: I think we know more about our planet than we ever have. There are scientists and engineers all around the world that are learning more every day. We are able to provide that information publicly. And we have options available today that can help us respond to climate change. Whether that's options available to help reduce emissions or adapt the changes we experience, those all exist now.MARTÍNEZ: You're NASA's chief scientist and climate adviser. If someone came up to you and said, what's the one thing, Kate, that I could do to try and contribute to helping things, what would you tell them?CALVIN: That is a difficult question because everyone's situation is different. So we live in different places. We work in different places. The impacts that we're experiencing might be different. The options that are available to us might be different. And so what science can provide is information about those options so we can, you know, tell you about the link between emissions and climate. We can tell you which options are available to reduce emissions - things like renewable energy or ways of traveling.MARTÍNEZ: You know, Kate, there was a time when if you told someone that you work for NASA, they think, oh, you're looking up at the stars, or that's where you're headed - toward the stars. But in this case, NASA is looking down at our planet. How do you describe that in terms of what you do and what you're trying to understand about climate change in the globe?CALVIN: So we do explore the universe. We send crewed missions into outer space to explore and to learn about our solar system. But part of what we do in those missions - you know, we do learn. We learn a lot about Earth from studying other planets. We also develop technologies and innovate that can help as we're exploring, but also help us here on Earth.So even though we look out into the universe, we also look back at Earth. And we've been doing satellite missions that observe the Earth for more than 50 years. And that gives us a really tremendous resource because these satellites - we can look at different things from space, from vegetation to clouds and precipitation, carbon dioxide. So we can see both what happens and how it's changed over time.MARTÍNEZ: Kate Calvin is NASA's chief scientist and climate adviser. Kate, thanks.CALVIN: Thank you so much for having me. A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: We're seeing some wild weather across the U.S. this week, from scorching temperatures in the Southwest to catastrophic flooding in the Northeast. NASA chief scientist and senior climate adviser Kate Calvin is closely watching these weather events, and I asked her if this is our new normal. KATE CALVIN: We are seeing increases in temperature over time. So 2022 is about two degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the late 19th century average. And what we know from science is that warming is going to continue. How much warmer it gets depends on actions taken and how much emissions there are in the future. MARTÍNEZ: And if climate change continues at the pace that we're observing right now, I mean, what kinds of weather events might we experience maybe a decade or two decades from now? Are we talking about a disaster movie from Hollywood? CALVIN: Well, so how much future warming we experience depends on future emissions. So we know that the warming we've experienced up until now is driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. There's a large community of people that look at what future climate might look like, and they look at very different warming levels - everything from looking at what if we were to keep warming around 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit and going up above that. And what you see from that is that impacts rise with warming. And so how much more impacts we experience depends on how much more warming we experience. How much more warming we see in the future depends on future emissions. MARTÍNEZ: You know, hotter temperatures and erosion on coastlines or stuff that we see in the news all the time, things that are tangible that we experience - what are some things that are related to climate change, Kate, that maybe we aren't thinking about quite yet? Things like maybe diseases or migration of people around the world. CALVIN: So one of the things, you know, a lot of ecosystems and animal species - they're adapted to a particular climate. And even small changes in warming can change their geographic extent or how they function. And so I think thinking about things like biodiversity and ecosystems, and some of that carries with it implications for human in terms of the human health and other factors, and so thinking about that, I think we often don't always think about the fact that a small change in temperature can affect the way an ecosystem or species functions. MARTÍNEZ: Kate, where at all do you see any hope? CALVIN: I think we know more about our planet than we ever have. There are scientists and engineers all around the world that are learning more every day. We are able to provide that information publicly. And we have options available today that can help us respond to climate change. Whether that's options available to help reduce emissions or adapt the changes we experience, those all exist now. MARTÍNEZ: You're NASA's chief scientist and climate adviser. If someone came up to you and said, what's the one thing, Kate, that I could do to try and contribute to helping things, what would you tell them? CALVIN: That is a difficult question because everyone's situation is different. So we live in different places. We work in different places. The impacts that we're experiencing might be different. The options that are available to us might be different. And so what science can provide is information about those options so we can, you know, tell you about the link between emissions and climate. We can tell you which options are available to reduce emissions - things like renewable energy or ways of traveling. MARTÍNEZ: You know, Kate, there was a time when if you told someone that you work for NASA, they think, oh, you're looking up at the stars, or that's where you're headed - toward the stars. But in this case, NASA is looking down at our planet. How do you describe that in terms of what you do and what you're trying to understand about climate change in the globe? CALVIN: So we do explore the universe. We send crewed missions into outer space to explore and to learn about our solar system. But part of what we do in those missions - you know, we do learn. We learn a lot about Earth from studying other planets. We also develop technologies and innovate that can help as we're exploring, but also help us here on Earth. So even though we look out into the universe, we also look back at Earth. And we've been doing satellite missions that observe the Earth for more than 50 years. And that gives us a really tremendous resource because these satellites - we can look at different things from space, from vegetation to clouds and precipitation, carbon dioxide. So we can see both what happens and how it's changed over time. MARTÍNEZ: Kate Calvin is NASA's chief scientist and climate adviser. Kate, thanks. CALVIN: Thank you so much for having me. Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Willem Marx Empty shelves are seen in the fruit and vegetable aisles of a Tesco supermarket in the U.K. this week. Getty Images hide caption Empty shelves are seen in the fruit and vegetable aisles of a Tesco supermarket in the U.K. this week. Many of Britain's largest grocery store chains this week introduced limits on the sale of specific vegetables and fruit as shortages of certain products continue to extend across the U.K. Grocery giants including Tesco, Asda, Aldi and Morrisons are struggling with their supply chains, particularly with products sourced from southern Spain and Morocco where extreme weather has damaged crops. In Northern Europe some farmers have also slashed production due to high energy prices, while in the U.K. food prices have risen almost 17% over the past year, the highest increase in almost half a decade. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Advertisement <iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/02/21/extreme-weather-us"></iframe> Meteorologist Mark Elliot talks about the extreme weather across the country this week — exceptionally cold temperatures in the West, unseasonably warm temperatures in the South and a winter storm. This segment aired on February 21, 2023. Advertisement

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Advertisement <iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/01/26/california-farmworkers-food"></iframe> California farmworkers harvest much of the nation's food. But extreme weather events, including the recent rains and last summer's heat, have taken on toll on some of the crops. That, in turn, is making it more difficult for farmworkers to afford to eat themselves. Teresa Cotsirilos of the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) reports. This segment aired on January 26, 2023. Advertisement

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Lauren Sommer Roads and infrastructure are increasing being overwhelmed by heavier rainfall, like the California Central Valley town of Planada in January. Most states still aren't designing water systems for heavier storms. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption Roads and infrastructure are increasing being overwhelmed by heavier rainfall, like the California Central Valley town of Planada in January. Most states still aren't designing water systems for heavier storms. Heavy storms have flooded roads and intersections across California over the last few weeks. The water often isn't coming from overflowing rivers. Instead, rainfall is simply overwhelming the infrastructure that's designed to keep people safe from flooding. A new federal law could ensure that the country's roads and infrastructure are better able to withstand increasingly destructive storms. The problem: the help won't be ready in time for the billions of dollars in infrastructure spending currently underway. As the climate gets hotter, rainfall is getting more intense in many parts of the country. But many cities aren't constructing infrastructure to handle increasing amounts of water, because the rainfall records they use to design it are decades-old in most states. Those federal records, put out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are only sporadically updated. That means water systems are still being designed for the climate of the past. In late December, President Biden signed a bill that would require NOAA to update its extreme rainfall records for the whole country for the first time. It also requires them to forecast how climate change could make rainfall more intense in the future. NOAA is currently doing that national analysis and plans to make it available to cities and states in 2026 and 2027. Still, by then, the country will have already made the single largest investment in history in water infrastructure. The vast majority of spending from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will have been distributed, meaning most water projects will still be using old climate data. "The past is no longer a good predictor of what's coming our way," says Rachel Cleetus, climate policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "We will have many, many people and billions of dollars of infrastructure at risk if we don't do better going forward." When it comes to water infrastructure needs, Louisville, Kentucky has a long to-do list. The city's aging water system has been overwhelmed by large storms in the past, causing billions of gallons of sewage to be released into the Ohio River. The Louisville & Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District is working its way through a $2 billion dollar project list to address the problems, under an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency. To fill the funding gap, the utility is tapping into a range of federal sources, including new funds made available by the recent Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the American Rescue Plan Act. "We don't necessarily think about the structure under our feet that needs to be ready when a storm hits, but because those climate change storms are happening more and more frequently, now is the time to invest to update those systems," says Stephanie Laughlin, infrastructure planning manager at Louisville MSD. Still, the utility is currently using 62 year-old rainfall records to figure out what kind of storms its stormwater system should be able to handle. It's in the process of updating to NOAA's latest rainfall records for the region, known as Atlas 14, but even those are still more than 20 years old. Extreme rainstorms have already gotten more intense in Louisville since 1961, according to a 2017 study done by the utility. The study also showed that the trend will continue, with those storms expected to drop 2-3 more inches of rain per day by 2065 as the climate gets hotter. Louisville MSD is using that climate change forecasting to help design its major water facilities, like upgrading Paddy's Run, a 70-year old pumping station on the Ohio River that protects 70,000 homes from flooding. Residents in Merced, California wade across a flooded parking lot in the recent storms. Andrew Innerarity/California Department of Water Resources hide caption Residents in Merced, California wade across a flooded parking lot in the recent storms. But new investment in the rest of the water system, including the stormwater drains, will continue to use the older rainfall records without climate change projections. Laughlin says to change that, the utility needs new official rainfall data from NOAA. "It needs to be at the agency level for us to put into our design guidelines," she says. "That's the next step that will provide that added resilience." Water utilities around the country are facing the same challenge. Those that have found resources, like Harris County in Texas, have funded studies to find out what kind of storms are coming their way in the coming decades. Smaller utilities are struggling to find those localized forecasts. NOAA is now set to provide a national update, after President Biden signed the FLOODS Act in December, and it will be required to revise its rainfall data and projections every 10 years. Previously, states had to pay the agency for updated rainfall records. As a result, many states are using 20-year old reports, while the Pacific Northwest only has data from the 1970s. With new funding, NOAA will also include projections of how climate change could increase precipitation across the country. A hotter atmosphere is able to hold more water vapor, driving more intense rainfall from storms. "To have those future projections becomes very important, because the stuff that we're designing today, whether it be infrastructure or buildings, they're going to be with us for decades if not over a century, so we need to know what that future condition is to minimize damage and loss," says says Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. Given the complexity of adding climate change to their analysis, NOAA officials say the earliest the update can be ready is 2026. "We're looking for those opportunities to accelerate, but we want to make sure the data and the products are of high quality," says Fernando Salas, director of the Geo-Intelligence Division NOAA's Office of Water Prediction. Most states are still using outdated rainfall records to design their stormwater infrastructure. In a hotter climate, storms are dropping more intense rainfall. Kenneth James/California Department of Water Resources hide caption Most states are still using outdated rainfall records to design their stormwater infrastructure. In a hotter climate, storms are dropping more intense rainfall. By then, the federal Environmental Protection Agency will have distributed the majority of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. The agency began giving states $11.7 billion dollars through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund last year, which is expected to be fully delivered by 2026. "We strongly encourage that these investments should foster resilience to all threats and hazards, both natural and man-made, that they need to support climate adaptation in the water sector," says Radhika Fox, assistant administrator of water at the EPA. In absence of new federal rainfall data, it will largely be up to cities and states to find ways to plan for climate change. A newly released map from the Department of Defense and NOAA, while not the official records, does show how precipitation will change across the U.S. Climate experts say without building in some leeway to handle bigger storms, communities risk building infrastructure that will be inadequate and need expensive updating far sooner than planned for. "It's been a long time coming and better late than never," Cleetus says. "But what we need to do is make sure that we're mainstreaming it into all our infrastructure decisions from here on out. Otherwise we'll be putting good money after bad." Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Nathan Rott The U.S. suffered 18 separate billion-dollar disasters in 2022, highlighting the growing cost of climate change. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Jan. 10, 2023.) LEILA FADEL, HOST: A report out this week shows the U.S. had 18 different weather disasters last year that cost a billion dollars or more. NPR's Nathan Rott has more.NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: One hundred sixty-five billion dollars - that's how much damage weather-related disasters did in the U.S. in 2022, not to mention the loss of life - at least 474 people, according to the new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rick Spinrad is NOAA's administrator.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)RICK SPINRAD: Climate change is creating more and more intense extreme events that cause significant damage and often sets off cascading hazards, like intense drought, followed by devastating wildfires, followed by dangerous flooding and mudslides as we're seeing, for example, as a consequence of the atmospheric rivers in California right now.ROTT: Climate change is a major driver of the recent uptick in so-called billion-dollar disasters, which often cost far more. Hurricane Ian, for example, which walloped South Florida and the Caribbean, caused nearly $113 billion in damage in the U.S. alone. But the other major issue contributing to that cost is how we build and where. People are still moving to flood-prone areas, to fire-prone areas, to the drought-stricken West. Rachel Cleetus is a policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.RACHEL CLEETUS: At this point, we're still far too often reacting to these as one-off disasters. And the reality is climate change is worsening the trend here. And we have to do much better at getting out ahead and protecting and preparing communities in advance of disasters.ROTT: Particularly, she says, low-income communities and communities of color, which are disproportionately impacted by natural disasters. European climate researchers confirmed that the last eight years had been the warmest in modern world history. And perhaps most concerning, the cause of climate change, greenhouse gases from human activities, are still rising. The nonpartisan research firm Rhodium Group put out a report showing that despite the Biden administration's pledges and the massive climate bill passed by Congress last year, U.S. emissions rose again in 2022, risking even worse climate change in the future.Nathan Rott, NPR News. LEILA FADEL, HOST: A report out this week shows the U.S. had 18 different weather disasters last year that cost a billion dollars or more. NPR's Nathan Rott has more. NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: One hundred sixty-five billion dollars - that's how much damage weather-related disasters did in the U.S. in 2022, not to mention the loss of life - at least 474 people, according to the new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rick Spinrad is NOAA's administrator. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) RICK SPINRAD: Climate change is creating more and more intense extreme events that cause significant damage and often sets off cascading hazards, like intense drought, followed by devastating wildfires, followed by dangerous flooding and mudslides as we're seeing, for example, as a consequence of the atmospheric rivers in California right now. ROTT: Climate change is a major driver of the recent uptick in so-called billion-dollar disasters, which often cost far more. Hurricane Ian, for example, which walloped South Florida and the Caribbean, caused nearly $113 billion in damage in the U.S. alone. But the other major issue contributing to that cost is how we build and where. People are still moving to flood-prone areas, to fire-prone areas, to the drought-stricken West. Rachel Cleetus is a policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. RACHEL CLEETUS: At this point, we're still far too often reacting to these as one-off disasters. And the reality is climate change is worsening the trend here. And we have to do much better at getting out ahead and protecting and preparing communities in advance of disasters. ROTT: Particularly, she says, low-income communities and communities of color, which are disproportionately impacted by natural disasters. European climate researchers confirmed that the last eight years had been the warmest in modern world history. And perhaps most concerning, the cause of climate change, greenhouse gases from human activities, are still rising. The nonpartisan research firm Rhodium Group put out a report showing that despite the Biden administration's pledges and the massive climate bill passed by Congress last year, U.S. emissions rose again in 2022, risking even worse climate change in the future. Nathan Rott, NPR News. Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Nathan Rott Hurricane Ian caused $112.9 billion dollars and more than 150 deaths when it slammed into south Florida in 2022, making it the costliest climate-fueled disaster in the U.S. last year. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption Hurricane Ian caused $112.9 billion dollars and more than 150 deaths when it slammed into south Florida in 2022, making it the costliest climate-fueled disaster in the U.S. last year. A town-flattening hurricane in Florida. Catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky. Crippling heatwaves in the Northeast and West. A historic megadrought. The United States endured 18 separate disasters in 2022 whose damages exceeded $1 billion, with the total coming to $165 billion, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The annual report from the nation's premier meteorological institution highlights a troubling trend: Extreme weather events, fueled by human-caused climate change, are occurring at a higher frequency with an increased cost — in dollars and lives. "Climate change is creating more and more intense, extreme events that cause significant damage and often sets off cascading hazards like intense drought, followed by devastating wildfires, followed by dangerous flooding and mudslides," said Dr. Rick Spinrad, NOAA's administrator, citing the flooding and landslides currently happening in California. In five of the last six years, costs from climate and weather-related disasters have exceeded $100 billion annually. The average number of billion-dollar disasters has surged over that time, too, driven by a combination of increased exposure of people living in and moving to hazardous areas, vulnerability due to increasing hazards like wind speed and fire intensity, and a warming climate, the NOAA report said. (2 of 6) The U.S. experienced 18 #BillionDollarDisasters in 2022 totaling more than $165 billion in damage.122 separate billion-dollar disasters killed at least 5,000 people from 2016–2022.https://t.co/lwb0yKihEk@NOAANCEI @ametsoc #StateOfClimate #AMS2023 pic.twitter.com/FzzsNXSxRA Climate-fueled hurricanes, in particular, are driving up damages. Hurricane Ian, which killed at least 150 people and pancaked entire neighborhoods when it made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, cost $112.9 billion alone. "There are, unfortunately, several trends that are not going in the right direction for us," said Adam Smith, an applied climatologist at NOAA. "For example, the United States has been impacted by a landfalling Category 4 or 5 hurricane in five out of the last six years." The rise in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events mirrors a rise in global temperatures. The last eight years have been the warmest in modern history, European researchers said on Tuesday. Average global temperatures have increased 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.1 degrees Fahrenheit) since the Industrial Revolution, when humans started the widespread burning of fossil fuels to power economies and development. Despite international pledges to cut climate-warming emissions and to move the world's economy to cleaner energy sources, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. A report by the nonpartisan research firm Rhodium Group found that greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. rose 1.3% in 2022. It was the second consecutive year emissions in the U.S. rose, after a pandemic-driven dip in 2020, despite the Biden administration's goal of cutting U.S. emissions in half by the year 2030. The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate bill in U.S. history, was a "turning point," the Rhodium Group report said. "However, even with the IRA, more aggressive policies are needed to fully close the gap [to halve emissions] by 2030." The frequency of billion-dollar disasters has increased greatly in recent years and the trend is expected to continue. An analysis from the nonprofit Climate Central earlier this year found that between 2017 and 2021 the U.S. experienced a billion-dollar disaster every 18 days, on average. The average time between those events in the 1980s was 82 days. The less time between events, the fewer resources there are to respond to communities affected, the Climate Central report noted. To reduce the threat of deadly and costly weather events, scientists say the world needs to limit warming by urgently cutting climate-warming emissions. But as evidenced by recent events, the impacts of climate change are already here and adaptation efforts are needed as well. "This sobering data paints a dire picture of how woefully unprepared the United States is to cope with the mounting climate crisis and its intersection with other socioeconomic challenges in people's daily lives," said Rachel Cleetus, a policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a statement. "Rather than responding in a one-off manner to disasters within the U.S., Congress should implement a comprehensive national climate resilience strategy commensurate with the harm and risks we're already facing." Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Rachel Martin ,  Lauren Sommer Extreme weather which is fueled by climate change is posing a bigger and bigger threat to the nation's water infrastructure. RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Residents of Jackson, Miss., still do not have drinkable water and are being advised to boil it. The city's water treatment plant was already struggling, but a flood made a bad situation worse. Extreme weather fueled by climate change is posing a bigger and bigger threat to the nation's water infrastructure. Lauren Sommer with NPR's climate team is here to talk about more of the risk. Hey, Lauren.LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: Hey, Rachel.MARTIN: So in Jackson, residents have spent weeks boiling water or relying on bottled water. Are we seeing the consequences of vulnerable water systems like this in other states?SOMMER: Yeah, just this week, actually. There's been flooding in Georgia after some incredibly heavy rain. And it damaged the water treatment plant in Summerville. So residents there have also been told to boil their water before using it while the plant is being fixed. And this year, there have also been issues in places you might not expect, like Chicago. In April, residents there were told to conserve water, you know, delay taking showers or doing laundry.MARTIN: Why? What is going on in Chicago?SOMMER: Well, it wasn't that there was too little water. There was too much water, you know? In parts of Chicago, the pipes that drain all the rainwater from the streets are the same pipes that go to people's houses. So when a big storm hits, those pipes are getting a lot of runoff, plus all the normal water and sewage that comes from homes.MARTIN: So all this combines together. And it's just too much water. And the system's overwhelmed.SOMMER: Yeah, exactly. And so rainstorms are just getting more intense as the climate gets hotter. So there's just more water to deal with all at once, whether it's a flood or a lot of rain. And it's really testing water systems.MARTIN: So what is the fix? I mean, what kind of investment is needed to secure water infrastructure so it's prepared to meet the effects of climate change?SOMMER: Yeah. I mean, a lot of water infrastructure is next to water sources, as you might expect. So there's flooding or sea level rise. And water treatment plants are having to look at raising their key facilities so they're higher up, or maybe even moving the whole plant to a new location out of the floodplain. I spoke to Barb Martin, director of engineering and technical services at the American Water Works Association. And she said the recent problems are making the stakes much clearer.BARB MARTIN: If we don't plan ahead and make the investment now that we need in our water infrastructure, really, we're all at risk, whether that be the public health of our communities or the protection of the environments that we live in.MARTIN: The water treatment plant in Jackson, Miss., had been underfunded for years, right? And it had all these maintenance issues. When you think about trying to make these systems - prepare them for a future with more extreme weather and the effects of climate change, I mean, that's expensive on its own. But then you also have all these, you know, backdated issues that they have to fix.SOMMER: Yeah, yeah. That's exactly it, because Jackson really illustrates how that underfunding kind of combines with climate change, right? Infrastructure is in bad shape. And the flooding was the kicker, was the added stressor that just put it over. And studies show that investment in water infrastructure is falling short by tens of billions every year. The recent infrastructure act passed by Congress will provide a lot of new funding, you know, $50 billion. But experts say, with climate change, that's not going to be enough. So cities and states are going to have to find new ways to protect their drinking water.MARTIN: Lauren Sommer from NPR's climate team. Thank you.SOMMER: Thanks. RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Residents of Jackson, Miss., still do not have drinkable water and are being advised to boil it. The city's water treatment plant was already struggling, but a flood made a bad situation worse. Extreme weather fueled by climate change is posing a bigger and bigger threat to the nation's water infrastructure. Lauren Sommer with NPR's climate team is here to talk about more of the risk. Hey, Lauren. LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: Hey, Rachel. MARTIN: So in Jackson, residents have spent weeks boiling water or relying on bottled water. Are we seeing the consequences of vulnerable water systems like this in other states? SOMMER: Yeah, just this week, actually. There's been flooding in Georgia after some incredibly heavy rain. And it damaged the water treatment plant in Summerville. So residents there have also been told to boil their water before using it while the plant is being fixed. And this year, there have also been issues in places you might not expect, like Chicago. In April, residents there were told to conserve water, you know, delay taking showers or doing laundry. MARTIN: Why? What is going on in Chicago? SOMMER: Well, it wasn't that there was too little water. There was too much water, you know? In parts of Chicago, the pipes that drain all the rainwater from the streets are the same pipes that go to people's houses. So when a big storm hits, those pipes are getting a lot of runoff, plus all the normal water and sewage that comes from homes. MARTIN: So all this combines together. And it's just too much water. And the system's overwhelmed. SOMMER: Yeah, exactly. And so rainstorms are just getting more intense as the climate gets hotter. So there's just more water to deal with all at once, whether it's a flood or a lot of rain. And it's really testing water systems. MARTIN: So what is the fix? I mean, what kind of investment is needed to secure water infrastructure so it's prepared to meet the effects of climate change? SOMMER: Yeah. I mean, a lot of water infrastructure is next to water sources, as you might expect. So there's flooding or sea level rise. And water treatment plants are having to look at raising their key facilities so they're higher up, or maybe even moving the whole plant to a new location out of the floodplain. I spoke to Barb Martin, director of engineering and technical services at the American Water Works Association. And she said the recent problems are making the stakes much clearer. BARB MARTIN: If we don't plan ahead and make the investment now that we need in our water infrastructure, really, we're all at risk, whether that be the public health of our communities or the protection of the environments that we live in. MARTIN: The water treatment plant in Jackson, Miss., had been underfunded for years, right? And it had all these maintenance issues. When you think about trying to make these systems - prepare them for a future with more extreme weather and the effects of climate change, I mean, that's expensive on its own. But then you also have all these, you know, backdated issues that they have to fix. SOMMER: Yeah, yeah. That's exactly it, because Jackson really illustrates how that underfunding kind of combines with climate change, right? Infrastructure is in bad shape. And the flooding was the kicker, was the added stressor that just put it over. And studies show that investment in water infrastructure is falling short by tens of billions every year. The recent infrastructure act passed by Congress will provide a lot of new funding, you know, $50 billion. But experts say, with climate change, that's not going to be enough. So cities and states are going to have to find new ways to protect their drinking water. MARTIN: Lauren Sommer from NPR's climate team. Thank you. SOMMER: Thanks. Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Advertisement <iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/08/04/new-methods-scientists-weather"></iframe> Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with meteorologist and University of Georgia professor Dr. Marshall Shepherd about how scientists are able to connect extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts and hurricanes to climate change with greater certainty, but less so with tornadoes. This segment aired on August 4, 2022. Advertisement

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By  Laura Benshoff The heat wave scorching Europe is part of a larger global trend this summer of extreme weather. Policymakers, especially in the U.S., are so far failing to take steps to avoid a more dire future. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: And Europe isn't the only place getting hit with searing heat this week. China is facing another week of extreme temperatures. In the U.S., Texas, California and the Central Plains states all have excessive heat warnings in effect. So to talk about this, we're joined by Laura Benshoff of NPR's climate team. Hey, Laura.LAURA BENSHOFF, BYLINE: Good afternoon.SHAPIRO: Extreme heat hitting a lot of places all at once. How direct is the link to climate change here?BENSHOFF: This is exactly the pattern that scientists say plays out with climate change. Heat waves are getting more common, and they're getting more intense. Scientists are finding that some heat waves, like the record-breaking one in the Pacific Northwest last year, would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. And remember; this is what we're seeing with the planet having warmed about two degrees Fahrenheit since pre-industrial times. This trend is expected to just keep getting worse as global average temperatures rise. And in many places, temperatures alone aren't the only danger. It's also the humidity.SHAPIRO: Speaking to you from here in Washington, D.C., I know how miserable humidity can feel, but explain why it's actually more dangerous than high heat alone.BENSHOFF: So it has to do with our ability to sweat. You know, the basic idea is your body sweats. The sweat evaporates off your skin, and it cools our bodies in that process, right? But high humidity makes that more difficult. NPR spoke to Larry Kenney, a professor of physiology, about that. He has a lab at Penn State University where he cranks up the heat and humidity, and then he has people on a treadmill to see how their bodies respond. He says humidity has a big effect.LARRY KENNEY: Only sweat that evaporates has any ability to cool the body. And so as the absolute humidity increases, when it gets close to the humidity of the sweat on the skin, it can no longer evaporate.BENSHOFF: So basically, you can be covered in sweat, but if it's not evaporating, you're not getting any cooler. And out in the real world, the temperature might not seem that high, but if the humidity is super-high, it's still really dangerous.SHAPIRO: So climate change is increasing heat waves. Is it also increasing humidity?BENSHOFF: Studies are finding that it is. And that's because warmer air can hold more water vapor, which means more humidity. So as the climate warms, scientists say we need to pay attention not just to the overall temperature but something called the wet bulb temperature that takes humidity into account. And Kenney's lab recently found that the maximum wet bulb temperature that humans can endure is 88 degrees Fahrenheit at 100% humidity. He says even if you're just sitting in the shade, you're at risk of heatstroke and even death in those conditions.KENNEY: People need to understand that heat is the most deadly of all weather-related fatalities - much more so than tornadoes, hurricanes, all other things combined - that it is dangerous and, in particular, it's dangerous to vulnerable populations like the elderly.BENSHOFF: He says a good thing to keep tabs on is the heat index from the National Weather Service, which takes humidity into account.SHAPIRO: Let's talk about the effort to address all of this because climate action seems to have stalled in the U.S. at least. Democrats were hoping to pass major climate spending, but last week Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia pulled his support. What options do Democrats have right now?BENSHOFF: You know, they're still hoping to push climate spending through. This is billions of dollars for things like subsidies for electric cars and renewable energy. And Democrats have argued that energy costs are a big part of inflation right now. And so these incentives could help with those costs in the long term. But Manchin has said he wants to see what happens with inflation before making the deal. So right now a big spending package is off the table. Some hope that, you know, he'll come back to the table, these subsidies could get through later or they could be split up and passed on a piecemeal basis. Now, the White House released a statement last week saying if the Senate wouldn't act on climate change, then President Biden would use executive orders to further his climate agenda.SHAPIRO: All right. That's NPR's Laura Benshoff. Thanks for your coverage, Laura.BENSHOFF: Thank you so much. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: And Europe isn't the only place getting hit with searing heat this week. China is facing another week of extreme temperatures. In the U.S., Texas, California and the Central Plains states all have excessive heat warnings in effect. So to talk about this, we're joined by Laura Benshoff of NPR's climate team. Hey, Laura. LAURA BENSHOFF, BYLINE: Good afternoon. SHAPIRO: Extreme heat hitting a lot of places all at once. How direct is the link to climate change here? BENSHOFF: This is exactly the pattern that scientists say plays out with climate change. Heat waves are getting more common, and they're getting more intense. Scientists are finding that some heat waves, like the record-breaking one in the Pacific Northwest last year, would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. And remember; this is what we're seeing with the planet having warmed about two degrees Fahrenheit since pre-industrial times. This trend is expected to just keep getting worse as global average temperatures rise. And in many places, temperatures alone aren't the only danger. It's also the humidity. SHAPIRO: Speaking to you from here in Washington, D.C., I know how miserable humidity can feel, but explain why it's actually more dangerous than high heat alone. BENSHOFF: So it has to do with our ability to sweat. You know, the basic idea is your body sweats. The sweat evaporates off your skin, and it cools our bodies in that process, right? But high humidity makes that more difficult. NPR spoke to Larry Kenney, a professor of physiology, about that. He has a lab at Penn State University where he cranks up the heat and humidity, and then he has people on a treadmill to see how their bodies respond. He says humidity has a big effect. LARRY KENNEY: Only sweat that evaporates has any ability to cool the body. And so as the absolute humidity increases, when it gets close to the humidity of the sweat on the skin, it can no longer evaporate. BENSHOFF: So basically, you can be covered in sweat, but if it's not evaporating, you're not getting any cooler. And out in the real world, the temperature might not seem that high, but if the humidity is super-high, it's still really dangerous. SHAPIRO: So climate change is increasing heat waves. Is it also increasing humidity? BENSHOFF: Studies are finding that it is. And that's because warmer air can hold more water vapor, which means more humidity. So as the climate warms, scientists say we need to pay attention not just to the overall temperature but something called the wet bulb temperature that takes humidity into account. And Kenney's lab recently found that the maximum wet bulb temperature that humans can endure is 88 degrees Fahrenheit at 100% humidity. He says even if you're just sitting in the shade, you're at risk of heatstroke and even death in those conditions. KENNEY: People need to understand that heat is the most deadly of all weather-related fatalities - much more so than tornadoes, hurricanes, all other things combined - that it is dangerous and, in particular, it's dangerous to vulnerable populations like the elderly. BENSHOFF: He says a good thing to keep tabs on is the heat index from the National Weather Service, which takes humidity into account. SHAPIRO: Let's talk about the effort to address all of this because climate action seems to have stalled in the U.S. at least. Democrats were hoping to pass major climate spending, but last week Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia pulled his support. What options do Democrats have right now? BENSHOFF: You know, they're still hoping to push climate spending through. This is billions of dollars for things like subsidies for electric cars and renewable energy. And Democrats have argued that energy costs are a big part of inflation right now. And so these incentives could help with those costs in the long term. But Manchin has said he wants to see what happens with inflation before making the deal. So right now a big spending package is off the table. Some hope that, you know, he'll come back to the table, these subsidies could get through later or they could be split up and passed on a piecemeal basis. Now, the White House released a statement last week saying if the Senate wouldn't act on climate change, then President Biden would use executive orders to further his climate agenda. SHAPIRO: All right. That's NPR's Laura Benshoff. Thanks for your coverage, Laura. BENSHOFF: Thank you so much. Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Rebecca Hersher For decades, it was impossible to say that a specific weather event was caused, or even made worse, by climate change. But advanced research methods are changing that. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION:This story incorrectly identifies Michael Wehner's place of employment. He is a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, not Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.]JUANA SUMMERS (HOST): A derecho barreled through South Dakota yesterday. A heat wave is lingering over Texas, and wildfires are burning across Alaska. When weather gets extreme, a lot of people wonder and worry about climate change. Michael Wehner is a senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.MICHAEL WEHNER (SENIOR SCIENTIST, BERKELEY LAB): People want to know - you know, has climate change affected me? Did climate change flood my house? Did climate change make it so hot that my power went out? Those kinds of questions - and those are good questions.SUMMERS: For a long time, scientists did not really have answers. But as NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports, that's changing.REBECCA HERSHER (BYLINE): This is cutting-edge science, and here's how it works. After a flood or a heat wave or some other disaster, scientists sit down and compare what actually happened - like, how hot it got or how much rain fell - to what would have happened if there was no global warming. And to do that, they use really powerful computers, excellent weather satellites and fancy new math. And it's easier to do for some types of weather. Wehner was one of the OG scientists working on this problem.WEHNER: Well, the heat waves were where we started.HERSHER: Because heat waves are relatively simple. There aren't a lot of variables - temperature, maybe humidity and wind if you're getting fancy. And since you're comparing the present to the past, before global warming took off, you need good historical records, which there are for temperature - going back to the 1800s - all of which allows scientists to say some pretty bullish things about how climate change is making heat waves worse.WEHNER: Any heat wave that occurs from now on, the temperature has been increased by climate change.HERSHER: They can even tell you how much hotter it is.WEHNER: For garden-variety heat waves, like the hottest day of the year, the hottest day, you know, in every 10 years - in the United States, climate change has increased that heat wave's temperature by between three and five degrees Fahrenheit.HERSHER: Three to five degrees is a big difference if you really think about it - 85 compared to 90, 95 compared to 100. And, actually, studies have found that the higher you get, the more deadly each additional degree actually is. Last summer, this type of science had its biggest moment yet. There was an extreme heat wave in the Pacific Northwest - 115 degrees in Oregon and Washington, 120 in parts of Canada. And when scientists analyzed it, they found something shocking.WEHNER: It was virtually impossible without climate change.HERSHER: Another way to say that - climate change caused the heat wave. Now, that's new territory for most people - the idea that the weather we're living through isn't just worse because of global warming; it is only possible because of global warming. But other types of disasters are harder to tie to climate change, like wildfires. They're some of the hardest.MEGAN KIRCHMEIER-YOUNG (RESEARCH SCIENTIST, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA): Wildfires are a really great example of how we cannot say if climate change caused a particular wildfire event.HERSHER: Megan Kirchmeier-Young is a researcher at Environment and Climate Change Canada, and she says it's clear that climate change is making hot, dry conditions more common, which obviously makes wildfires more likely to take off. But then there are all the human influences. For example, a person can start a wildfire, and firefighters can keep it from spreading.KIRCHMEIER-YOUNG: Any fire has got so many factors going on, and only some of them are really closely related to the climate.HERSHER: That makes it impossible for scientists to study a specific fire and say this was X amount worse because of climate change. Other weather disasters are somewhere in between, like hurricanes. They're more complicated than heat waves, but less tricky than wildfires. So scientists have made some progress by focusing on individual parts of the storm, like how much rain fell or how intense the wind was. There's a lot of pressure for this research to move quickly, says Wehner.WEHNER: There is a clear demand for this from the public.HERSHER: In the future, concrete information about the effects of climate change could just be part of the normal weather forecast. In fact, the Weather Service for the European Union is already trying it out for heat waves and floods. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION:This story incorrectly identifies Michael Wehner's place of employment. He is a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, not Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.] JUANA SUMMERS (HOST): A derecho barreled through South Dakota yesterday. A heat wave is lingering over Texas, and wildfires are burning across Alaska. When weather gets extreme, a lot of people wonder and worry about climate change. Michael Wehner is a senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. MICHAEL WEHNER (SENIOR SCIENTIST, BERKELEY LAB): People want to know - you know, has climate change affected me? Did climate change flood my house? Did climate change make it so hot that my power went out? Those kinds of questions - and those are good questions. SUMMERS: For a long time, scientists did not really have answers. But as NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports, that's changing. REBECCA HERSHER (BYLINE): This is cutting-edge science, and here's how it works. After a flood or a heat wave or some other disaster, scientists sit down and compare what actually happened - like, how hot it got or how much rain fell - to what would have happened if there was no global warming. And to do that, they use really powerful computers, excellent weather satellites and fancy new math. And it's easier to do for some types of weather. Wehner was one of the OG scientists working on this problem. WEHNER: Well, the heat waves were where we started. HERSHER: Because heat waves are relatively simple. There aren't a lot of variables - temperature, maybe humidity and wind if you're getting fancy. And since you're comparing the present to the past, before global warming took off, you need good historical records, which there are for temperature - going back to the 1800s - all of which allows scientists to say some pretty bullish things about how climate change is making heat waves worse. WEHNER: Any heat wave that occurs from now on, the temperature has been increased by climate change. HERSHER: They can even tell you how much hotter it is. WEHNER: For garden-variety heat waves, like the hottest day of the year, the hottest day, you know, in every 10 years - in the United States, climate change has increased that heat wave's temperature by between three and five degrees Fahrenheit. HERSHER: Three to five degrees is a big difference if you really think about it - 85 compared to 90, 95 compared to 100. And, actually, studies have found that the higher you get, the more deadly each additional degree actually is. Last summer, this type of science had its biggest moment yet. There was an extreme heat wave in the Pacific Northwest - 115 degrees in Oregon and Washington, 120 in parts of Canada. And when scientists analyzed it, they found something shocking. WEHNER: It was virtually impossible without climate change. HERSHER: Another way to say that - climate change caused the heat wave. Now, that's new territory for most people - the idea that the weather we're living through isn't just worse because of global warming; it is only possible because of global warming. But other types of disasters are harder to tie to climate change, like wildfires. They're some of the hardest. MEGAN KIRCHMEIER-YOUNG (RESEARCH SCIENTIST, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA): Wildfires are a really great example of how we cannot say if climate change caused a particular wildfire event. HERSHER: Megan Kirchmeier-Young is a researcher at Environment and Climate Change Canada, and she says it's clear that climate change is making hot, dry conditions more common, which obviously makes wildfires more likely to take off. But then there are all the human influences. For example, a person can start a wildfire, and firefighters can keep it from spreading. KIRCHMEIER-YOUNG: Any fire has got so many factors going on, and only some of them are really closely related to the climate. HERSHER: That makes it impossible for scientists to study a specific fire and say this was X amount worse because of climate change. Other weather disasters are somewhere in between, like hurricanes. They're more complicated than heat waves, but less tricky than wildfires. So scientists have made some progress by focusing on individual parts of the storm, like how much rain fell or how intense the wind was. There's a lot of pressure for this research to move quickly, says Wehner. WEHNER: There is a clear demand for this from the public. HERSHER: In the future, concrete information about the effects of climate change could just be part of the normal weather forecast. In fact, the Weather Service for the European Union is already trying it out for heat waves and floods. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. This story incorrectly identified Michael Wehner's place of employment. He is a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, not Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This story incorrectly identified Michael Wehner's place of employment. He is a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, not Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

heat waves

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Ayesha Rascoe Ayesha Rascoe speaks to environmental reporter Amal Ahmed about extreme weather in Texas. AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: Like many Southern states, Texas has been ravaged by extreme weather in the last couple of years - from tornadoes to tens of thousands of acres burned in wildfires. Local media there has called it once-in-a-lifetime weather. Environmental journalist Amal Ahmed joins us now from Dallas to tell us why this is happening. Welcome.AMAL AHMED: Thanks so much for having me.RASCOE: So, first of all, tell us what we're actually seeing in terms of weather in Texas.AHMED: Yeah, so this past spring has been full of tornadoes and wildfires. There were a couple of tornadoes that hit recently in central Texas and then the end of March, also - the March and April has been very hot and dry, so we've seen record wildfires this season - mostly in west Texas and the Panhandle.RASCOE: And so how is that different from in the past?AHMED: Tornadoes - you think of that as a much later in spring kind of thing. So it's certainly earlier in the season. And I believe with the wildfires, you know, at least the drought conditions are almost as bad as the drought of record in 2011, which was the last time that we saw probably as intense of a wildfire season.RASCOE: I would think that climate change is a factor in this. Can you talk about, like, what is causing this change?AHMED: Yeah, I think with wildfires, that's a lot easier to kind of track. You know, hot, dry conditions - that's definitely something that climate change is increasing, particularly pushing those temperatures and conditions into, you know, earlier spring or late winter. Tornadoes are harder to sort of pin down to climate science. Scientists say it's because the records for tornadoes and, like, how often they happen are pretty hard to prove going back as long. And also the conditions being, like, warmer air colliding with cooler air and the humidity and all of that - like, these things are becoming more common in earlier spring and late winter.RASCOE: So it sounds like the changes are happening. So it is having an impact. How is it affecting the people who are really most vulnerable to these types of changes?AHMED: So I guess the idea, you know, behind natural disasters that I've heard a lot from folks who study these is the idea that the events themselves are not disasters, right? So a wildfire in and of itself is not a disaster. A tornado in and of itself is not really a disaster. And it's kind of when we have any of these extreme weather events hit a city or collide with a town, destroying farmland - like, that is really kind of the natural disaster part. That is when you have people struggling to recover from that - rebuilding their homes, recovering all the losses financially, dealing with government agencies - right? - going through this kind of alphabet soup of programs and agencies and all of that.RASCOE: You've talked a lot about how energy efficiency could make a difference or, like, weatherization of houses and how a lot of that is not happening in Texas or is not mandated to happen in Texas. Like, how does that impact someone's home to not have it be weatherized to withstand really hot weather or really cold weather?AHMED: Yeah, I mean, we saw this certainly with Winter Storm Uri last year, right? Homes that are sort of built to older standards are not really going to keep a set temperature for a very long time. You're going to be pumping in more heating or cooling, depending on the season, to stay comfortable. So for low-income families or households, that means a much higher energy bill than you'd be paying, you know, if you had upgraded windows, if your insulation was retrofitted and all of that - right? - or even if you had more efficient appliances. Housing, in a lot of senses, is just such an important tool in terms of climate resiliency and in disaster recovery, as well.RASCOE: How can people prepare to survive this kind of weather? Like, what can they do on their own?AHMED: Have a go bag ready. Like, if you're in an area where evacuations might be something that you're facing, right - whether it's wildfires or a flood or something like that, you know - with tornadoes, it's harder to predict - but supplies for a couple of days if the power goes out - important documents, you know, licenses, IDs, things like food and water, flashlights, things like generators and whatnot - these are really great to have if you can afford it - right? - in case the power goes out or something like that.RASCOE: That was environmental journalist Amal Ahmed. Thank you so much for speaking with us.AHMED: Thank you for having me on. AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: Like many Southern states, Texas has been ravaged by extreme weather in the last couple of years - from tornadoes to tens of thousands of acres burned in wildfires. Local media there has called it once-in-a-lifetime weather. Environmental journalist Amal Ahmed joins us now from Dallas to tell us why this is happening. Welcome. AMAL AHMED: Thanks so much for having me. RASCOE: So, first of all, tell us what we're actually seeing in terms of weather in Texas. AHMED: Yeah, so this past spring has been full of tornadoes and wildfires. There were a couple of tornadoes that hit recently in central Texas and then the end of March, also - the March and April has been very hot and dry, so we've seen record wildfires this season - mostly in west Texas and the Panhandle. RASCOE: And so how is that different from in the past? AHMED: Tornadoes - you think of that as a much later in spring kind of thing. So it's certainly earlier in the season. And I believe with the wildfires, you know, at least the drought conditions are almost as bad as the drought of record in 2011, which was the last time that we saw probably as intense of a wildfire season. RASCOE: I would think that climate change is a factor in this. Can you talk about, like, what is causing this change? AHMED: Yeah, I think with wildfires, that's a lot easier to kind of track. You know, hot, dry conditions - that's definitely something that climate change is increasing, particularly pushing those temperatures and conditions into, you know, earlier spring or late winter. Tornadoes are harder to sort of pin down to climate science. Scientists say it's because the records for tornadoes and, like, how often they happen are pretty hard to prove going back as long. And also the conditions being, like, warmer air colliding with cooler air and the humidity and all of that - like, these things are becoming more common in earlier spring and late winter. RASCOE: So it sounds like the changes are happening. So it is having an impact. How is it affecting the people who are really most vulnerable to these types of changes? AHMED: So I guess the idea, you know, behind natural disasters that I've heard a lot from folks who study these is the idea that the events themselves are not disasters, right? So a wildfire in and of itself is not a disaster. A tornado in and of itself is not really a disaster. And it's kind of when we have any of these extreme weather events hit a city or collide with a town, destroying farmland - like, that is really kind of the natural disaster part. That is when you have people struggling to recover from that - rebuilding their homes, recovering all the losses financially, dealing with government agencies - right? - going through this kind of alphabet soup of programs and agencies and all of that. RASCOE: You've talked a lot about how energy efficiency could make a difference or, like, weatherization of houses and how a lot of that is not happening in Texas or is not mandated to happen in Texas. Like, how does that impact someone's home to not have it be weatherized to withstand really hot weather or really cold weather? AHMED: Yeah, I mean, we saw this certainly with Winter Storm Uri last year, right? Homes that are sort of built to older standards are not really going to keep a set temperature for a very long time. You're going to be pumping in more heating or cooling, depending on the season, to stay comfortable. So for low-income families or households, that means a much higher energy bill than you'd be paying, you know, if you had upgraded windows, if your insulation was retrofitted and all of that - right? - or even if you had more efficient appliances. Housing, in a lot of senses, is just such an important tool in terms of climate resiliency and in disaster recovery, as well. RASCOE: How can people prepare to survive this kind of weather? Like, what can they do on their own? AHMED: Have a go bag ready. Like, if you're in an area where evacuations might be something that you're facing, right - whether it's wildfires or a flood or something like that, you know - with tornadoes, it's harder to predict - but supplies for a couple of days if the power goes out - important documents, you know, licenses, IDs, things like food and water, flashlights, things like generators and whatnot - these are really great to have if you can afford it - right? - in case the power goes out or something like that. RASCOE: That was environmental journalist Amal Ahmed. Thank you so much for speaking with us. AHMED: Thank you for having me on. Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

tornadoes

warmer air

ayesha rascoe

extreme weather

Lauren Sommer Heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded roads and expressways in New York in 2021. In a hotter climate, rainstorms are becoming more intense. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption Heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded roads and expressways in New York in 2021. In a hotter climate, rainstorms are becoming more intense. American cities are poised to spend billions of dollars to improve their water systems under the federal infrastructure bill, the largest water investment in the nation's history. Those new sewers and storm drains will need to withstand rainfall that's becoming more intense in a changing climate. But as cities make plans to tear up streets and pour cement, most have little to no information about how climate change will worsen future storms. Many cities are still building their infrastructure for the climate of the past, using rainfall records that haven't been updated in decades. Those federal precipitation reports, which analyze historical rainfall data to tell cities what kinds of storms to plan for, are only sporadically updated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rainfall reports for some states are 50 years old, which means they don't reflect how the climate has already changed in recent decades. And states themselves have to pay for those updates. The disconnect between the kinds of upgrades a changing climate demands and the data available to communities is already imperiling lives. Heavier downpours are taking an increasing toll on cities, inundating homes and roads. Last summer, for example, 50 people drowned when the remnants of Hurricane Ida overwhelmed urban stormwater drainage systems in the Northeast. Now, as NOAA determines how to spend its own infrastructure bill funding, many cities are hoping the agency commits to doing regular, nationwide updates of its precipitation reports, known as Atlas 14, to provide a systematic snapshot of how storms have already intensified. Still, those up-to-date records won't show how the climate will continue to change in the future. So many flood planners are also pushing NOAA to fund and release local forecasts of how rainfall is expected to intensify going forward, to ensure that infrastructure projects built today won't become obsolete as temperatures warm. "It's core to probably hundreds or thousands of development decisions everyday," says Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. "If we have over a trillion dollars going out the door in infrastructure, then let's have the very best standards and data so we're designing this stuff right." When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in the summer of 2017, the slow-moving storm dropped as much as 60 inches of rain. The destruction left in its wake cost $125 billion with more than 100,000 homes damaged. But even before the hurricane hit, city planners had begun to realize that storms, much weaker than Harvey, were becoming a greater danger because the infrastructure wasn't designed for them. A firefighter checks on stalled cars on a flooded street in Sun Valley, Calif., during a 2017 storm. When rainfall overwhelms stormwater systems, flooding can happen far from a river or creek. David McNew/Getty Images hide caption A firefighter checks on stalled cars on a flooded street in Sun Valley, Calif., during a 2017 storm. When rainfall overwhelms stormwater systems, flooding can happen far from a river or creek. In any city, the only thing stopping rainwater from flooding roads and homes is a lowly, unglamorous piece of infrastructure: the storm drain. In heavily paved areas, rain isn't absorbed into the ground, and the runoff needs somewhere to go. Storm drains connect to miles of underground pipelines that carry runoff away. The size of storm drains and pipes limits how much water the system can handle. When they're overwhelmed, flooding can happen in neighborhoods far from any river or creek, where residents likely lack flood insurance. Cities decide on the size of a stormwater system by using a particular kind of storm known as a "design storm." In some places, the stormwater infrastructure is designed for a storm that's considered a 1-in-5-year storm, or that has a 20% chance of hitting. Other cities plan for an even more severe storm, like a 1-in-25-year storm. To figure out how much rain those storms will unleash, many communities turn to the federal government. NOAA releases precipitation records through its Atlas 14 reports, which analyze the historical rainfall in a given region and then tell local planners how much rain is produced in both common and extreme storms. But for many states, those records are outdated. Prior to Harvey, some local agencies in Texas were using NOAA records last released in 1961. Harris County, where Houston is located, analyzed rainfall data on its own, but the records were still 2 decades old. Loading... Regional planners knew urban flooding was on the rise. Intersections and roadways were getting swamped with water in heavy rain. But to get new precipitation data that captures how storms have already changed in recent years, local or state agencies need to pay the federal government for it under NOAA's policy. The agency itself has historically not had the budget to conduct the studies. A group of local flood agencies in Texas, along with the regional office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, raised $1.75 million for a statewide study in 2016. The results confirmed what they suspected: Rainstorms have already gotten more intense. The NOAA analysis found that a major storm, known as the 1-in-100-year storm, had become almost 30% wetter. Instead of 13 inches of rain, it now dropped almost 17 inches of rain in Harris County. "It may have been a case of 'be careful what you wish for,'" says Craig Maske, chief planning officer at the Harris County Flood Control District. "We did anticipate it increasing somewhat, just not quite that much." The new information had a ripple effect through the various entities in Houston responsible for the metro area's infrastructure. Rainfall numbers not only determine how stormwater systems are built, but also roads, highways, bridges and housing developments. "Everybody, after taking the collective gasp of seeing how the rainfall depths had increased, knew this was going to affect how they developed and where they developed," Maske says. Transportation agencies suddenly faced building their projects to withstand more water. The Houston-Galveston Area Council, which oversees transportation planning in the area, says major projects in planning stages became $150 million to $200 million more expensive, largely due to the flood safety needs. One-third of the major roads and highways there are vulnerable to flooding, according to an agency analysis, including critical thoroughfares needed by first responders in a disaster. Rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded homes in New Jersey. Without updated rainfall records, cities risk building infrastructure that can't withstand intensifying storms. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images hide caption Rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded homes in New Jersey. Without updated rainfall records, cities risk building infrastructure that can't withstand intensifying storms. Despite the added cost, experiencing a record-breaking disaster seemed to change the conversation in the community. "The fallout from Hurricane Harvey is still ongoing here," says Craig Raborn, director of transportation of the Houston-Galveston Area Council. "So when we do public engagement processes for major infrastructure projects, major roads, we hear a lot more comment now about flooding than we used to see in the past." As temperatures get hotter, heavy storms are producing more rainfall because warmer air can hold more water vapor. "Throughout most of the country, big storms are happening more often," says Daniel Wright, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "There's every reason to expect that rainfall will continue to intensify in the future." The Northeast and Midwestern U.S. have seen the biggest increases, with the heaviest storms producing 55% more rain today in the Northeast compared to 1958, according to the 2018 National Climate Assessment. Outdated rainfall records don't reflect those changes. Wright and his colleagues looked at the Atlas 14 reports and found that in some places, extreme storms are happening twice as often as those reports predicted. Under its current system, NOAA only updates the Atlas 14 information when states both request and pay for the reports. As a result, many states are using data from the early 2000s. The last update for the Pacific Northwest was in 1973. Loading... Officials at NOAA say this haphazard system is far from ideal since it creates a patchwork of climate data. Analyzing data for only a few states at a time also adds to the overall cost. "It would be much more efficient to do the whole country all at once," says Mark Glaudemans, director of NOAA's Geo-Intelligence Division, which oversees Atlas 14. "So by doing it in the piecemeal fashion that we have now, it does make it more expensive." Updating precipitation data is briefly mentioned in the $2 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress last year. NOAA officials say they're currently developing the agency's spending plan for the funds and can't comment on whether Atlas 14 will be part of it. Flood experts are urging the agency to prioritize nationwide rainfall reports. Without that information, cities aren't able to strengthen their infrastructure to handle today's storms, as Houston is doing. "The cost to do this is almost decimal dust when it comes to the overall federal budget," says Berginnis, whose group wrote to NOAA about the matter. "We're only talking about $3 million to $5 million a year to produce these data." Two bills now pending in Congress would also commit NOAA to doing regular updates, beyond what the infrastructure bill provides for the next decade. The PRECIP Act specifies that Atlas 14 would be released every 10 years, while the FLOODS Act would set the updates for every five years. Still, even with the most up-to-date rainfall information, climate scientists warn that infrastructure is still likely to fail, since NOAA's Atlas 14 reports look at the past, not the future. Nationwide studies like the 2018 National Climate Assessment show extreme precipitation will continue to get worse around the country as temperatures get hotter. A study last fall from the Northeast Regional Climate Center found extreme rainfall in New Jersey would likely increase by 20% by 2100, compared to 1999. Some counties could see a 50% increase. But when cities look for climate-driven rainfall information tailored to their region, they're mostly out of luck since NOAA doesn't conduct that analysis. "There's no book," says Anna Roche, project manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. "There haven't been plans that have been developed for any of this stuff. So every city in the United States is grappling with this." Water drains on a street flooded by rain from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 in Galveston, Texas. After getting new rainfall data, some Texas cities are building infrastructure to handle more water. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption Water drains on a street flooded by rain from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 in Galveston, Texas. After getting new rainfall data, some Texas cities are building infrastructure to handle more water. In the absence of relevant information from NOAA, San Francisco and a handful of other cities around the U.S. have partnered with local universities and researchers for localized climate change projections. San Francisco is working with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists, who are running complex computer models that forecast future rainfall change. In the Pacific Northwest, both Portland and Seattle partnered with the University of Washington's Climate Impact Group. The research team created an online tool so cities in Oregon and Washington could see how extreme rain would shift. In Seattle, the 1-in-25-year storm could be more than 20% worse by the 2080s. Realizing the scale of that change, Seattle enhanced a major stormwater control project that was underway. The Ship Canal Water Quality project was planned with a 14-foot diameter tunnel, designed to capture stormwater so the system isn't overwhelmed in big storms. The climate change projections spurred the city to upsize it to 18 feet wide. "We're thinking this is a 100-year investment, so we need to be using our best information about what 100 years is going to look like and not designing things now that will be obsolete," says Leslie Webster, drainage and wastewater planning manager at Seattle Public Utilities. "We're confident that the change in sizing will provide a lot more resilience in the future. But, you know, it also increased the price tag significantly." Still, while major cities are beginning to integrate climate data into their planning, smaller cities without connections to leading universities have little information to go on. Many are urging NOAA to release climate projections, along with a new nationwide Atlas 14 update, to provide reliable information for infrastructure planning. Other federal agencies already provide localized climate projections, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture's map showing how plant growing zones could shift. "Rural and smaller communities simply don't have the resources and typically access to technology to make those estimates," Berginnis says. The added cost of preparing for climate change comes at a tough time for most cities, which already have a backlog of maintenance for their stormwater systems. In 2020, municipal utilities nationwide faced a combined funding shortfall of $8.5 billion, according to a study from the Water Environment Federation. "Municipalities are facing an unbelievable gap in trying to keep up with stormwater," says Darren Olsen of the American Society of Civil Engineers. "It's expensive to upgrade infrastructure and stormwater infrastructure, because it's out of sight, it's out of mind." Upsizing a city's entire stormwater system, with miles of underground pipes that would need to be dug up, is far too expensive for most cities. Instead, many are looking at using green infrastructure, where pavement is replaced with plants that allow rainwater to soak into the ground. The hope for many is that the infrastructure bill provides much-needed funding to make their systems climate-ready with both traditional and green projects. "I do think it's like a cultural shift that we have to make in terms of how we plan for our future," says Nishant Parulekar, civil engineer with the city of Portland. "We'll have to be very adaptable in terms of how we plan and build."

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Jeff Brady Christopher Glenn of Melrose, Ore., installed a home standby generator after a 2019 snowstorm knocked out power to his house and business for a week. Christopher Glenn hide caption Christopher Glenn of Melrose, Ore., installed a home standby generator after a 2019 snowstorm knocked out power to his house and business for a week. Outside Christopher Glenn's house in the small Oregon community of Melrose, a white metal box sits next to the garage. The home standby generator was installed after a long outage in 2019. "We had a major snowstorm that brought about 3 feet of snow to our backyard, and we were without electricity for approximately a week," says Glenn. His spouse works remotely and couldn't work without electricity. They also own an organic tea business that was shut down by the outage. "A customer in Ohio or Florida or Texas, they don't care if we're without power out here in Oregon. They want to know why we're not responding," says Glenn. Beyond snowstorms, he's also concerned about outages during the wildfire season. As in California, Oregon utilities sometimes turn off electricity so power lines don't spark fires. Around the U.S., climate change is bringing more intense and frequent extreme weather that often means mass power outages, including devastating, high-profile ones like that in Texas last year. There's also concern about the reliability of an aging electrical grid at the same time as the grid is being decentralized and decarbonized with increasing amounts of renewable energy. And finally, there's the coronavirus pandemic, which has more people spending more time at home. Industry experts say all this has created a boom in the number of Americans installing home generators. One manufacturer, Generac Power Systems, had a nearly 50% jump in revenue last year with sales of close to $3.7 billion, according to the company's president and CEO, Aaron Jagdfeld. "That's off of a very strong set of years here. The company has grown dramatically. We're now approaching 10,000 employees," says Jagdfeld. Buying a generator can be a big investment with a lot to consider. It's important to know what kind of generator would work best for your situation and how to use it safely. In Oregon, Glenn's model is on the higher end. The cost, including installation, was $9,000. But he says the next time the power goes out, he's prepared to keep the lights on and stay in business. The generator will power the house and an outbuilding where his tea business is located. It's big enough to also charge an electric car. Jagdfeld says this is typical of Generac's customers, who mostly live in suburban, single-family, unattached houses. The generators Generac sells usually burn natural gas or propane. But because home standby generators are expensive, they account for only about 5% of the market, says Paul Hope, home and garden editor at Consumer Reports. "The vast majority of generators run on gasoline and are different sizes of portable generators," he says. Portable generators cost as little as a few hundred dollars, but they come with limits. Most won't power an entire house, like a permanently mounted model will, so you have to choose what gets plugged in during an outage. As Hurricane Florence approaches in 2018, Stoney Williamson unloads a portable generator for his brother-in-law as Harry Campbell (left) looks on in Nichols, South Carolina. David Goldman/AP hide caption As Hurricane Florence approaches in 2018, Stoney Williamson unloads a portable generator for his brother-in-law as Harry Campbell (left) looks on in Nichols, South Carolina. Hope says these generators can be connected directly to a circuit breaker box. That requires an electrician and a device called a "transfer switch" that protects your electronics when the power comes back on. It also keeps electricity from your generator from going to power lines outside your house, where it can hurt utility workers. Without the transfer switch, you have to run extension cords from the generator to individual appliances. And that brings up a big safety issue: where the portable generator is located. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that about 70 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators. The agency says the machine must be at least 20 feet from a house, with the exhaust directed away from the home and other buildings where people go. The CPSC says you should never operate a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawl space or shed — or even on a porch. Part of the problem, says Hope, is that a lot of people wait to buy portable generators at the last minute, when they need it. That may not leave time to make good decisions, such as thinking about safety tips. He says one mistake a lot of people make is not having enough heavy-duty, outdoor-rated extension cords on hand to allow them to put the generator at least 20 feet from the house. "So they naturally try to bring it a little bit closer, plug some things directly into the generator and use fewer cords that way," says Hope. That risks carbon monoxide poisoning, though Hope says most new generators have automatic shut-offs if carbon monoxide levels get too high. Another thing to consider is how much gasoline needs to be stored to run a portable generator during an extended outage. Some burn up to 20 gallons of gas a day. Hope says to make sure to store gas in approved containers and add fuel stabilizer to boost the life of the gas up to two years. If you still haven't used it by then, you can burn the gas in your car. If you're thinking about buying a home generator, Hope says another consideration is climate change. Generators are "actually horrible fossil fuel-burning polluters that, of course, contribute to man-made climate change." And that, he says, fuels the same severe weather events that result in widespread power outages. A cleaner but more expensive option is installing solar panels and batteries on a house. Those will keep the power on, like a generator, but only as long as there's enough sun to charge the batteries. There also are portable power stations that cost at least $1,000 and are limited in how much power they provide. "You can power a laptop or charge a cellphone, but you're really not going to be powering, you know, your refrigerator or anything for any great length of time," says Hope. On the plus side, these power stations use rechargeable batteries, so they're quiet. And since they don't burn gas, they can be used safely indoors. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Scott Neuman A volunteer helps set up snacks at a cooling center established to help vulnerable residents ride out the second dangerous heat wave to grip the Pacific Northwest last summer, on Aug. 11, 2021. Gillian Flaccus/AP hide caption A volunteer helps set up snacks at a cooling center established to help vulnerable residents ride out the second dangerous heat wave to grip the Pacific Northwest last summer, on Aug. 11, 2021. Wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and a winter storm and cold wave were among 20 weather and climate disasters in the U.S. last year that cost $1 billion or more, totaling $145 billion and killing 688 people, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In an overview of an annual report released on Monday by NOAA, scientists also said that 2021 ranked as the fourth-warmest year on record in the United States, with December 2021 being the warmest December ever recorded. The full report is due out Thursday. Adjusted for inflation, 2021 was the third-costliest on record for extreme weather events, after 2017 and 2005, the report said. The events cited include Hurricane Ida, wildfires and a deadly heat wave in the West, three separate tornado outbreaks in the South and central parts of the U.S., and unusually cold temperatures in Texas that left millions of people without electricity. "It was a tough year. Climate change has taken a shotgun approach to hazards across the country," said NOAA climatologist and economist Adam Smith, who compiled the report for the agency. The NOAA overview came on the same day that preliminary data showed that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose 6.2% last year compared to 2020, according to the research firm Rhodium Group, placing the Biden administration's goals to combat climate change in jeopardy. The steep rise in emissions is attributed in part to changes in behavior as coronavirus vaccines became widely available after a year in which lockdowns and other precautions slowed economic activity. On Tuesday, an analysis published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, indicated that human-caused increase in heat-trapping emissions in the atmosphere helped push oceans temperatures to their highest level on record. "The long-term ocean warming is larger in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans than in other regions and is mainly attributed, via climate model simulations, to an increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations," the analysis concluded. "The anomalous global and regional ocean warming established in this study should be incorporated into climate risk assessments, adaptation, and mitigation." Scientists have repeatedly warned that warming due to climate change would increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, driving up the cost, and likely the death toll, for such disasters. In its report, NOAA said its statistics "were taken from a wide variety of sources and represent, to the best of our ability, the estimated total costs of these events — that is, the costs in terms of dollars that would not have been incurred had the event not taken place. Insured and uninsured losses are included in damage estimates." Adjusted for inflation, the report shows a steady increase in billion-dollar disasters over the decades — with 29 in the 1980s, 53 in the 1990s, 63 in the 2000s, and 123 in the 2010s. The last five years have seen 86 such events, NOAA says. "I think the biggest lesson is that the past is not a good predictor of the future and to begin planning now for what the climate might be 20, 30 years from now," David Easterling, a climate scientist at NOAA, told NPR last month. A version of this story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Advertisement <iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/12/28/2021-climate-change-news"></iframe> How do we describe the state of the world's climate as 2021 comes to a close? One climate watcher put it like this: "We live in a time of broken-record breaking." In August, news broadcasters described the scene in Greece as “apocalyptic” as fires roared across the country, evacuating more than a thousand people from the island of Evia. Temperatures reached nearly 117 degrees. A heat wave shattered records in the Pacific Northwest. On June 28, Portland, Oregon, hit 116 degrees. In California, wildfires incinerated thousands of giant sequoias — trees so large and iconic they were once thought to be fireproof. And then the strongest storm of the year, Hurricane Ida, unleashed its 150 mph winds on Louisiana before moving on and inundating the Northeast. New Jersey’s governor declared a state of emergency in response to Ida’s intense flooding that turned deadly. These severe weather events aren’t normal when compared to weather patterns over the past few decades, says Scientific American climate editor Andrea Thompson. Extreme weather events are becoming less rare and are getting worse as time ticks on, she notes. “How much you could tie any event to climate change depends a little on the event,” she says. “It's a little harder for things like hurricanes, which are very complex versus a heat wave, which obviously has much more direct ties to rising temperatures.” On the environmental consequences that follow the initial weather disaster “The same issues with wildfires affecting water quality happen out in California and some of the West. Those are major concerns. The smoke from those fires causes major air pollution events, which we've seen year after year recently. Flooding, especially in Louisiana, where you have a lot of fossil fuel infrastructure, pipelines and things like that. You can get a lot of chemicals mixed in with the floodwaters, which exacerbates the disaster. You don't just get the flooding, you get that chemical exposure too.” On anxiety about climate change “The main thing around that this year was a study that came out in The Lancet in September — a large survey of ten thousand 16 to 25-year-olds in 10 countries. It found that the vast majority are experiencing anxiety, fear, sadness, anger over climate change and in particular, the lack of action of governments to combat it. Forty-five percent said it affected their daily lives. But it shows how impacted particularly young people are already by climate change because I think we often thought of it for so long as a future problem when it's really an issue that is affecting us now. We increasingly see that, and people, I think, increasingly recognize that.” On the other hand, a significant portion of the world isn’t moved by climate change “I think that's true too. I think that happens, particularly in the United States, for various reasons. Some of it can be partisan political ones. In our daily lives, we have so many other things we have to focus on, particularly right now in the middle of a global pandemic, that it can seem easier to sort of push off something like climate change. But these surveys, there were some other ones to show that at least among young people, this is a really growing concern and it is having an actual mental health impact on them. And we know that it's going to affect them far more than it affects current generations.” On President Biden’s climate response so far “His rhetoric and his pledges around [climate] were in very stark contrast to former President Trump's. He immediately signed the necessary paperwork to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, which President Trump had pulled the U.S. out of just a few months before. He revoked the federal permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. And then throughout the year, he's made big commitments and pronouncements on what the U.S. is going to do in terms of reducing our emissions. He pledged that the U.S. would cut its carbon emissions in half by 2030. Together, all of the things he has pledged are by far the biggest and most ambitious commitments the U.S. has made to date.” On whether Biden’s pledges can be meaningful without change to the law “So yes and no, there's a lot of things he can do through executive action through agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. They and the Department of Transportation are going to issue strengthened vehicle emission standards, for example, and transportation is the leading contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. So there are things that can happen on the executive side that can move toward that goal. The problem comes in that executive actions can be easier to overturn if a new administration that is less climate friendly comes in. Whereas congressional actions are a lot more durable. But I think he and others would far prefer the Build Back Better act.” On whether the COP26 climate conference lived up to expectations “I think it definitely fell short of where people hoped it would. But there was some progress. The U.S. and China were able to come to an agreement to cooperate on technology to capture carbon from the atmosphere, to strengthen methane policies, which is not nothing. That is the kind of agreement that really underlined the development of the Paris accord, so it lays the potential foundation for more in the future. But I think a lot of people were disappointed in where countries’ pledges ended up after Glasgow, that they weren't as ambitious as it was hoped and analysis since COP26 has shown that they're not enough to meet the Paris goal of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. And the U.S. is a big question mark on that.” On whether she believes we’re better off or worse off since the end of 2020 “I think overall, I feel better off than at the end of 2020. I think when you step back and look at the whole picture, I think we are in a better place in terms of the actions we've committed to take. But so much of that promise depends on follow through. And we're going to have to see in 2022 and 2023 whether that follow through actually happens. I think part of it is I tried to be optimistic because I have an infant son and I want us to tackle this problem for him and the world he's going to inherit, but that bumps up against some of the realities day-to-day. So it's a mixed bag I think.” Karyn Miller-Medzon produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Tinku Ray. Serena McMahon adapted it for the web. This segment aired on December 28, 2021. Peter O'Dowd Senior Editor, Here & NowPeter O’Dowd has a hand in most parts of Here & Now — producing and overseeing segments, reporting stories and occasionally filling in as host. He came to Boston from KJZZ in Phoenix. More… Advertisement

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Lauren Sommer Abilio Viegas attempts to fix his flooded van on South Street in Newark, New Jersey after flooding cause by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images hide caption Abilio Viegas attempts to fix his flooded van on South Street in Newark, New Jersey after flooding cause by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. In 2021, extremely rare weather disasters became alarmingly common. In Tennessee, cities were deluged with 17 inches of rain over two days. Dozens of people drowned in basement apartments and cars in New Jersey, when floodwater rose as the remnants of Hurricane Ida swept through. In the Pacific Northwest, heat-related illness sent almost 3,000 people to the emergency room when temperatures topped 116 degrees. All are considered one in 1,000-year events, having only a 0.1% chance of happening in any given year. But as global temperatures rise, these kinds of extremes are happening more frequently. Like two sides of the same coin, rising temperatures are making dry heat waves more intense, while also causing storms to release heavier deluges. Climate scientists only expect that trend to increase as humans continue releasing heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Whether it was too much water or too much heat, extreme weather events in 2021 exposed major shortfalls in how prepared cities and governments are to handle them. Most of the country's homes, roads and public safety systems were designed for the climate of the last century, when the most extreme weather events currently occurring were considered improbable. "I think the biggest lesson is that the past is not a good predictor of the future and to begin planning now for what the climate might be 20, 30 years from now," says David Easterling, climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Residents spend the afternoon at a cooling center at Kellogg Middle School in Portland. Extreme heat triggered a public health emergency in the Pacific Northwest. Thousands went to the hospital and more than 200 people died. Michael Hanson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption Unprecedented heat waves In late June, the weather forecast in Washington and Oregon read like something written for Southwestern deserts. Temperatures rose above 110 degrees, well into record-setting territory. An area of high pressure known as a heat dome locked dangerously hot air over the region, deflecting the clouds and cool breezes the region is accustomed to. With many residents lacking air conditioning, the heat became a public health emergency. Thousands went to the hospital and more than 200 people died. Paved surfaces became perilously hot. Roads and infrastructure buckled. The effects were even worse in cities, where cement absorbs and radiates heat, pushing temperatures even higher. A store in Hood River, Oregon advertises after record-setting temperatures in the Pacific Northwest. With extreme heat rare in the region, many residents lack air conditioning. Michael Hanson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption As the climate gets hotter, extreme heat events are becoming significantly more likely. Globally, temperatures have already risen almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius). If temperatures reach 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit of warming (2 degrees Celsius), scientists predict that a 1-in-50 year heat wave is almost 14 times more likely to happen, according to a major climate assessment released this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). While climate scientists have tracked those overall trends for decades, they're now also homing in on how climate change is intensifying individual heat waves. According to a study by scientists with the World Weather Attribution collaborative, the Pacific Northwest heat wave was made 150 times more likely by the changing climate. In another new report, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) found that climate change influenced many of the 2020 heat waves as well. "At this point, understanding climate change's role in a heat wave has become highly routine," says Stephanie Herring, a NOAA climate scientist who worked on the AMS report. "Around the world, it's extremely rare to find a heat event not made worse, to some degree, by climate change." A woman walks away from her vehicle on the NJ-17 southbound roadway flooded by the remnants of Hurricane which unleashed heavy rain across the Northeast. Ted Shaffrey/AP hide caption A woman walks away from her vehicle on the NJ-17 southbound roadway flooded by the remnants of Hurricane which unleashed heavy rain across the Northeast. Overwhelming rainfall Just six months after the summer heat wave, British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest found themselves scrambling with another climate extreme. An intense winter storm flooded roads and homes, one of several rain-driven disasters this year that exposed how quickly cities can be overcome by water. In August, heavy rainfall in Waverly, Tennessee led to rapid flash flooding, damaging hundreds of homes and killing more than 20 people. The 17 inches of rain was far outside the bounds of an extreme storm for the area, even more unlikely than a one in 1,000-year event. Later that month, the remains of Hurricane Ida unleashed heavy rain across the Northeast, stunning many residents. As the streets filled with water, some were trapped in basement apartments and drowned. Others were overtaken in their cars. Authorities vowed to increase flood warnings and go door-to-door for evacuations in the future. While every storm is different, rising temperatures are already increasing the capacity of storms to release more intense rain. In August, cities in Tennessee were deluged with 17 inches of rain over two days. The rainfall led to rapid flash flooding damaging hundreds of homes and killing more than 20 people. Mark Humphrey/AP hide caption In August, cities in Tennessee were deluged with 17 inches of rain over two days. The rainfall led to rapid flash flooding damaging hundreds of homes and killing more than 20 people. "Unfortunately, we're starting to see more and more of those rainfall events," Easterling says. "And the expectation is that in the future, because of warming, a warmer atmosphere holds much more moisture and that those events will continue to increase." In most of the U.S., the biggest storms are already producing more rain. In the Northeast, those storms produced 55% more rainfall by 2016, compared to 1958, according to the last National Climate Assessment. Globally, the recent IPCC assessment finds that heavy storms will be 14% wetter if the planet warms 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). Most cities, including the stormwater systems that drain water away, aren't designed to handle the most extreme storms. Building infrastructure to handle the heaviest rainfall events can be costly. But while those storms were once thought to be few and far between, climate change is changing the equation. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Brian Mann Chief Geoffrey Deibler and dispatchers Meghan Collier (center) and Bobbie Brown of the Morganfield Police Department traveled to nearby Dawson Springs, Ky., to help look for survivors. Brian Mann/NPR hide caption Chief Geoffrey Deibler and dispatchers Meghan Collier (center) and Bobbie Brown of the Morganfield Police Department traveled to nearby Dawson Springs, Ky., to help look for survivors. Under a chilly blue sky, a dozen men and women stood in a line on a devastated street in Dawson Springs, Ky., one of the small towns hit hardest by the swarm of tornadoes that raked the nation's midsection Friday night into Saturday. Geoffrey Deibler, a police chief from neighboring Morganfield, came to volunteer on one of the search-and-recovery crews fanning out across Kentucky on Monday. "We're going through every bit of that," Deibler said, pointing wearily to a dense snarl of downed trees and debris as he waited for the signal to begin marching. "If there's pieces of roofing or swimming pools or tin, we're picking that up and moving it." The goal is to find survivors — or recover the remains of victims. As of Monday night, the official death toll in this community of 2,600 people stood at 12. A four-wheeler rumbled past and gave the signal. The searchers set off, moving carefully through what used to be a cluster of small homes. They used sticks and heavy leather gloves to shift the rubble. That afternoon, Gov. Andy Beshear said 74 people have died and at least 109 remain missing statewide. "We hope somebody connects to them and they're out there and we just don't know where they are yet. Maybe they don't have cell service," the governor said. The ruins of homes are marked with symbols after they're searched and cleared of any remains or hazards. Brian Mann/NPR hide caption The ruins of homes are marked with symbols after they're searched and cleared of any remains or hazards. Meanwhile, teams like this one, crewed by volunteers and National Guard troops, are going house to house and also searching fields and woodlands. "It's something else, ain't it?" said Jason Cox, leader of this search team, shaking his head at the scale of destruction. Cox, a deputy fire chief from the nearby town of Sturgis, marched along in heavy firefighter's gear, working to keep his team evenly spaced. He said this kind of recovery work takes a heavy emotional toll. "It's extremely hard," he said. "We're all adequately trained ... so we just do the best we can with what we've got." With more than 100 people still missing in Kentucky, search-and-recovery crews are working in devastated neighborhoods like this one in Dawson Springs. Brian Mann/NPR hide caption With more than 100 people still missing in Kentucky, search-and-recovery crews are working in devastated neighborhoods like this one in Dawson Springs. Members of this crew haven't found anyone alive so far, but they did recover one body during a previous day's search. "We found a gentleman," said Deibler, who tipped back his cowboy hat and said quietly, "It's difficult." As the team moved up a low hill, another searcher knelt to shine her headlamp into the darkness of a collapsed garage. Bobbie Brown searches with her headlamp in the ruins of a shed. Her crew has already found the body of one man killed in the storm. Brian Mann/NPR hide caption Bobbie Brown searches with her headlamp in the ruins of a shed. Her crew has already found the body of one man killed in the storm. "I was a nurse for several years," said Bobbie Brown, who works now as a police dispatcher in Morganfield. "Unfortunately, I've learned to shut my brain off when it comes to these types of situations." But many of these rescue workers here acknowledge being uniquely vulnerable to the pain and loss of this disaster. "We have family here, as well," said Ryan Linton, a member of the Dawson Springs Volunteer Fire Department. "So everybody's trying to make do with what's going on. "Unfortunately, it's like a movie that just won't stop playing." Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Rachel Treisman Smoke from the Bond Fire billows above Peltzer Pines Christmas tree farm in Orange County, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2020. Extreme weather and supply chain issues could make Christmas trees harder to come by this holiday season. Noah Berger/AP hide caption Smoke from the Bond Fire billows above Peltzer Pines Christmas tree farm in Orange County, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2020. Extreme weather and supply chain issues could make Christmas trees harder to come by this holiday season. We don't want to be Grinches, but we do want to give you a heads-up about some important holiday news: Christmas trees may be harder to find than usual. Jami Warner, the executive director of the American Christmas Tree Association, tells NPR that both environmental and economic factors are to blame. Extreme weather events like wildfires, droughts and floods have made this an especially challenging season for growers. Such events are driven by climate change and could become more common as the Earth warms. And even artificial trees are feeling the burn, thanks to ongoing global supply chain issues. "The great majority of our artificial Christmas trees are manufactured in China, and Christmas trees and pretty much every other consumer good is languishing either out at sea or hasn't shipped yet," Warner explains. Experts expect the bottleneck at U.S. ports is to get even worse during the holiday season, exacerbated by Americans' online shopping. All of this means that you can expect to pay at least 20% more for your Tannenbaum, whether real or artificial. But don't despair. It's still worth holding out hope for a Christmas miracle. Warner says there are bound to be bargains and online sales out there. And she's officially giving you permission to act fast and claim your tree early. "I think it's very important for consumers to, if they see something they like, to buy it right away," she advises. And it doesn't have to be the tree of your dreams, she adds. After all, there are many other sources of Yuletide joy — especially this season, with vaccinations making it safer for people to travel and gather. "This year, I think people will be able to celebrate Christmas with their families again and with their friends, and no one is going to notice if you don't have that very, very perfect Christmas tree," Warner says. "Really, there are no such thing as bad Christmas trees — they're all beautiful." The audio version of this story was produced by Taylor Haney and edited by Kelley Dickens. This story originally appeared on the Morning Edition live blog. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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Deepa Shivaram Flames from the Windy Fire burn up a giant tree this month in the Trail of 100 Giants grove in Sequoia National Forest in California. Children in younger generations will experience two to seven times more extreme climate events such as wildfires, a new study says. Noah Berger/AP hide caption Flames from the Windy Fire burn up a giant tree this month in the Trail of 100 Giants grove in Sequoia National Forest in California. Children in younger generations will experience two to seven times more extreme climate events such as wildfires, a new study says. Children born in 2020 will experience extreme climate events at a rate that is two to seven times higher than people born in 1960, according to a new study in the journal Science. With the current rate of global warming and national policies that fail to make necessary cuts in heat-trapping pollution, climate events such as heat waves will continue to rise in frequency, intensity and duration, scientists say. That leaves children of younger generations facing a "severe threat" to their safety, according to the study's authors. The study analyzed extreme climate events such as heat waves, droughts, crop failures, floods, wildfires and tropical cyclones. Researchers used recent data from a 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that included information on global life expectancy, population trends and projected trajectories of global temperatures. The forecasts for how these events could drastically affect younger generations were startling. The scientists compared a person born in 1960 with a child who was 6 years old in 2020. The 6-year-old will experience twice as many cyclones and wildfires, three times as many river floods, four times as many crop failures and five times as many droughts. Heat waves, though, will be the most prevalent extreme climate event, with 36 times as many occurring for the 6-year-old. The study shows that extreme weather events could affect younger generations in various regions of the world differently. People who were younger than 25 years old by 2020 in the Middle East and North Africa will likely experience more exposure to extreme climate events compared with other regions. The researchers say overall, younger generations in lower-income countries will experience the worsening climate at a higher rate than their peers in wealthier countries. The data from the study shows how limiting the increase in global warming and adapting policies that align with the Paris climate accord are beneficial, the researchers argue. But even then, younger generations are still left with "unprecedented extreme event exposure," they write. The study's release this week comes as youth climate activists were gathering Tuesday in Milan, Italy. The Youth4Climate summit featured speeches by Greta Thunberg of Sweden and Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, who both criticized world leaders for not taking meaningful action on climate change. Thunberg, 18, accused leaders of too many empty words. "This is all we hear from our so-called leaders: words. Words that sound great but so far have led to no action. Our hopes and dreams drown in their empty words and promises," she said. "Of course, we need constructive dialogue, but they have now had 30 years of blah, blah, blah. And where has this led us?" Nakate, 24, also pointed out how climate change disproportionately affects the African continent — despite its carbon emissions being lower than that of every other continent with the exception of Antarctica. "For many of us, reducing and avoiding is no longer enough. You cannot adapt to lost cultures, traditions and history. You cannot adapt to starvation. It's time for leaders to put loss and damage at the center of the climate negotiations," Nakate said. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

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By  Eric Westervelt Extreme weather fueled by climate change is straining the financial and human resources of emergency agencies and first responders, especially wildland firefighters across much of the West. LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: There's hope for the evacuated residents of South Lake Tahoe who are waiting to return to their homes. Firefighters have made progress against the massive Caldor Fire threatening the California resort town. Calmer winds and higher humidity have helped their efforts. But with megafires the new norm, the work of wildland firefighters is harder and longer than it used to be. Extreme weather fueled by climate change is putting a strain on them and other emergency workers. NPR's Eric Westervelt has this report.ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE: In a stretch of bone-dry pine forest on the edge of South Lake Tahoe, a crew's putting out windblown spot fires. It's hard, tedious work, scraping the ground with hand tools.(SOUNDBITE OF TOOL HITTING DIRT)WESTERVELT: Just up the road, helicopters are dropping water on a main edge of the massive Caldor Fire as it crackles toward the Tahoe Basin. Like most wildland firefighting crews, this one from Reno has been jumping from fire to fire with little downtime. Already this year, Reno Fire has sent crews to eight different states. Most of this crew just shifted from the nearby Dixie Fire, California's second-largest fire on record, to help defend Lake Tahoe. Smoke, ash, heat, sleep deprivation - Battalion Chief Bill Erlach says he has to remind his team not to overdo it.BILL ERLACH: You can see some guys get a little fatigued. And just remind them, hey, there's enough of us. You can take a timeout. You know, take care of yourself, and we'll help take care of you, too, because we do got to pace ourselves.WESTERVELT: Pacing and avoiding firefighter burnout is a nationwide problem. The federal office that decides which wildfires get priority says the U.S. has currently exhausted all national firefighting resources, from personnel to equipment. They've been at this level five alert since mid-July. So now the Pentagon has been tapped to mobilize hundreds of active duty service members, as well as aircraft to help fight wildfires. Some states have also activated the National Guard. Critics charge that the old firefighting deployment models and the mutual aid system are near a breaking point. Exhausted crews, resources stretched thin - that's the reality in the era of climate change-fueled megafires. Add in record drought and the routinization of extreme weather, and you've got a serious problem.THOM PORTER: In 11 months, we saw 6 of the 7 largest fires in California's history all burn - within 11 months. And now we have another fire.WESTERVELT: That's Thom Porter, director of Cal Fire, the state's firefighting agency. I caught up with him while he was surveying the frontlines of the Caldor Fire. Porter says this year, his crews began grueling and intense deployment cycles weeks earlier than last year.PORTER: We've been in it deep for a month longer, and we're approaching that exhaustion point at an earlier point in what will be a long rest of the season.WESTERVELT: To protect firefighter physical and mental health, Porter's tried to formalize a policy of rotating crews home for rest and reset every 21 days, but relentless wildfires once again had other ideas.PORTER: That's not been possible. Even this year, even with that being my direction, we still have people that have been out for 40, 50 days because there are certain key positions that we're that short in that we need to be able to keep them out.WESTERVELT: With fatigue a major concern, Chief Porter says finding that deployment balance is among his top priorities.PORTER: I'm really worried about the rest of the season. And we have a long way to go, as you mentioned, and this is a marathon.WESTERVELT: A marathon with some of the traditionally hardest months still ahead, says Reno Battalion Chief Bill Erlach.ERLACH: October is almost one of the worst seasons for California. And then back in Reno, we've had our worst fires in November, December and January.WESTERVELT: So unfortunately, Erlach says, our fire season is now almost the entire year. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, South Lake Tahoe.(SOUNDBITE OF PHARIS AND JASON ROMERO'S "LOST LULA") LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: There's hope for the evacuated residents of South Lake Tahoe who are waiting to return to their homes. Firefighters have made progress against the massive Caldor Fire threatening the California resort town. Calmer winds and higher humidity have helped their efforts. But with megafires the new norm, the work of wildland firefighters is harder and longer than it used to be. Extreme weather fueled by climate change is putting a strain on them and other emergency workers. NPR's Eric Westervelt has this report. ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE: In a stretch of bone-dry pine forest on the edge of South Lake Tahoe, a crew's putting out windblown spot fires. It's hard, tedious work, scraping the ground with hand tools. (SOUNDBITE OF TOOL HITTING DIRT) WESTERVELT: Just up the road, helicopters are dropping water on a main edge of the massive Caldor Fire as it crackles toward the Tahoe Basin. Like most wildland firefighting crews, this one from Reno has been jumping from fire to fire with little downtime. Already this year, Reno Fire has sent crews to eight different states. Most of this crew just shifted from the nearby Dixie Fire, California's second-largest fire on record, to help defend Lake Tahoe. Smoke, ash, heat, sleep deprivation - Battalion Chief Bill Erlach says he has to remind his team not to overdo it. BILL ERLACH: You can see some guys get a little fatigued. And just remind them, hey, there's enough of us. You can take a timeout. You know, take care of yourself, and we'll help take care of you, too, because we do got to pace ourselves. WESTERVELT: Pacing and avoiding firefighter burnout is a nationwide problem. The federal office that decides which wildfires get priority says the U.S. has currently exhausted all national firefighting resources, from personnel to equipment. They've been at this level five alert since mid-July. So now the Pentagon has been tapped to mobilize hundreds of active duty service members, as well as aircraft to help fight wildfires. Some states have also activated the National Guard. Critics charge that the old firefighting deployment models and the mutual aid system are near a breaking point. Exhausted crews, resources stretched thin - that's the reality in the era of climate change-fueled megafires. Add in record drought and the routinization of extreme weather, and you've got a serious problem. THOM PORTER: In 11 months, we saw 6 of the 7 largest fires in California's history all burn - within 11 months. And now we have another fire. WESTERVELT: That's Thom Porter, director of Cal Fire, the state's firefighting agency. I caught up with him while he was surveying the frontlines of the Caldor Fire. Porter says this year, his crews began grueling and intense deployment cycles weeks earlier than last year. PORTER: We've been in it deep for a month longer, and we're approaching that exhaustion point at an earlier point in what will be a long rest of the season. WESTERVELT: To protect firefighter physical and mental health, Porter's tried to formalize a policy of rotating crews home for rest and reset every 21 days, but relentless wildfires once again had other ideas. PORTER: That's not been possible. Even this year, even with that being my direction, we still have people that have been out for 40, 50 days because there are certain key positions that we're that short in that we need to be able to keep them out. WESTERVELT: With fatigue a major concern, Chief Porter says finding that deployment balance is among his top priorities. PORTER: I'm really worried about the rest of the season. And we have a long way to go, as you mentioned, and this is a marathon. WESTERVELT: A marathon with some of the traditionally hardest months still ahead, says Reno Battalion Chief Bill Erlach. ERLACH: October is almost one of the worst seasons for California. And then back in Reno, we've had our worst fires in November, December and January. WESTERVELT: So unfortunately, Erlach says, our fire season is now almost the entire year. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, South Lake Tahoe. (SOUNDBITE OF PHARIS AND JASON ROMERO'S "LOST LULA") Copyright © 2021 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

eric westervelt

stretch

extreme weather

calmer winds

Environment Story Of The Day NPR hide caption From By  Nick Mott Jason Forthofer, mechanical engineer at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, looks into a fire whirl he generated to demonstrate how fire whirls and fire tornadoes form in wildland fires. Erica Zurek/Montana Public Radio hide caption Jason Forthofer, mechanical engineer at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, looks into a fire whirl he generated to demonstrate how fire whirls and fire tornadoes form in wildland fires. Climate change is driving longer and more intense wildfire seasons, and when fires get big enough they can create their own extreme weather. That weather includes big funnels of smoke and flame called "fire tornadoes." But the connection between the West's increasingly severe fires and those tornadoes remains hazy. In late June, firefighters on the Tennant Fire in Northern California captured footage that went viral. A video posted on Facebook shows a funnel cloud glowing red from flame. It looks like a tornado, or more commonly, a dust devil. It's almost apocalyptic as the swirl of smoke, wind and flame approaches fire engines, heavy machinery and a hotel sign swaying in the wind. Jason Forthofer, a firefighter and mechanical engineer at the U.S. Forest Service's Missoula Fire Sciences Lab in Montana, said funnels like this one are called "fire whirls." He said the difference between whirls and tornadoes is a matter of proportion. "Fire tornadoes are more of that, the larger version of a fire whirl, and they are really the size and scale of a regular tornado," he said. Forthofer said the reason for the proliferation of images and videos like that whirl on the Tennant Fire might just be that people are keeping better track of them. "Most likely it's much easier to document them now because everybody walks around with a camera essentially in their pocket on their phone," he said. The data's too young to be sure, he said, but it is plausible fire tornadoes are occurring more often as fires grow more intense and the conditions that create them more frequent. The ingredients that create fire whirls are heat, rotating air, and conditions that stretch out that rotation along its axis, making it stronger. Forthofer can simulate those ingredients in a chamber in the lab. He heads towards an empty, 12-foot-tall tube and pours alcohol into its bottom, and then finds a lighter to get the flames going. A spinning funnel of fire, about a foot in diameter, shoots upward through the tube. In the real world, it's hard to say how frequently fire whirls or tornadoes happened in the past, since they often occur in remote areas with no one around. But Forthofer went looking for them; he found evidence of fire tornadoes as far back as 1871, when catastrophic fires hit Chicago and Wisconsin. "I realized that these giant tornado sized fire whirls, let's call them, happen more frequently than we thought, and a lot of firefighters didn't even realize that was even a thing that was even possible," Forthofer said. National Weather Service Meteorologist Julie Malingowski said fire tornadoes are rare, but do happen. She gives firefighters weather updates on the ground during wildfires, which can be life or death information. She said the most important day-to-day factors that dictate fire behavior, like wind, heat and relative humidity, are a lot more mundane than those spinning funnels of flame. "Everything the fire does as far as spread, as soon as a fire breaks out, is reliant on what the weather's doing around it," Malingowski said. Researchers are tracking other extreme weather behavior produced by fires, like fire-generated thunderstorms from what are called pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or pyroCBs. Those thunderstorms can produce dangerous conditions for fire behavior, including those necessary for fire tornadoes to occur. Michael Fromm, a meteorologist at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., said the information only goes back less than a decade, but the overall number of PyrcoCBs generated in North America this year is already higher than any other year in the dataset. "And the fire season isn't even over yet," he said. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor

catastrophic fires

pyrocumulonimbus clouds

diameter

michael fromm