One-Third of Americans Have Encountered Extreme Weather in Recent Years, Survey

One in three Americans says they’ve been personally affected by the extreme weather event in the past two years, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday that reflects a period that included a crippling ice storm in Texas, one of the largest wildfires in California history. and a powerful storm that killed dozens of people in the New York area.

Thirty-three percent of U.S. adults said they have been affected by extreme weather conditions since 2020, most commonly extreme cold. According to the surveyBased on interviews with nearly 1,000 adults living in all 50 states and Washington DC last month.

Winter weather such as hurricanes and snow, ice storms and blizzards were the most common extreme weather events noted, followed by extreme heat and flooding. Two-thirds of those surveyed — 67 percent — said they were unaffected by extreme weather conditions.

People living in the South and West were more likely to say they experienced an extreme weather event, according to the survey, which had a plus or minus 4 percent margin of error.

Those living in the south said they were most affected by extreme cold, hurricanes or tornadoes. Those living in the West cited forest fires, extreme heat and drought as extreme weather events they may encounter. The most common reactions of Easterners were floods and hurricanes, while Midwesterners spoke of floods and tornadoes, as well as snow or ice storms.

While not all extreme weather is climate-related, the researchers found that attitudes about climate change are closely related to personal experiences with extreme weather. Sixty-three percent of those affected by extreme weather said they were “too much” concerned about global warming, compared to 33 percent who were not affected by extreme weather.

Sixty-four percent of those affected by extreme weather say climate change will pose a “serious threat” to their lifestyles over their lifetimes, compared with 36 percent of those not affected by extreme weather. Sixty-seven percent of people who experienced extreme weather events and 48 percent of those who did not said that the government was not doing enough to protect the environment.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there have been dozens of severe weather events in the United States over the past two years, each causing $1 billion or more in damage. 20 similar climate disasters occurred in 2021and 22, a record, in 2020.

Last year, these climate disasters caused a total of $145 billion in damage and at least 688 deaths. According to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

including them A deadly ice storm that paralyzed much of Texas for days; a heat wave killed hundreds in Oregon and Washington; Hurricane Nicholas, which swept through the states along the Gulf of Mexico; Hurricane Ida, which landed in Louisiana before its remnants, killed more than 40 people in the New York area; and major wildfires in California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado.

Last summer, experts said the recent increase in climate catastrophes made it clear. USA was not ready Addressing extreme weather events as they occur more frequently as a result of a warming planet.

“These events tell us we’re not prepared,” said Alice Hill, who oversaw climate risks planning at the National Security Council during the Obama administration. “We built our cities, our communities in a climate that no longer exists.”

Climate experts say governments don’t spend enough time or money preparing for climate disasters, and there is a limit to how much the country and the world can adapt to it. Experts say that if nations don’t act fast enough to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, they will soon find themselves at the extremes of resilience.