After a year that saw many parts of the country hit by scorching heat, devastating wildfires, severe storms and record flooding, a new Environment Arizona report documents how global warming could lead to certain extreme weather events becoming even more common or more severe in the future. The report found that, already, one-third of Arizonans live in counties affected by federally declared weather-related disasters since 2006.
“Over two million Arizonans have lived through extreme weather causing big problems for Arizona’s economy and our public safety,” said Bret Fanshaw, Advocate for Environment Arizona. “Given that global warming will likely fuel even more extreme weather, we need to cut dangerous carbon pollution now.”
The new report, entitled In the Path of the Storm: Global Warming, Extreme Weather, and the Impacts of Weather-Related Disasters in the United States, examined county-level weather-related disaster declaration data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for 2006 through 2011 to determine how many Arizonans live in counties hit by recent weather disasters. The complete county-level data can be viewed through an interactive map available here on Environment Arizona’s website. The report also details the latest science on the projected influence of global warming on heavy rain and snow; heat, drought and wildfires; and hurricanes and coastal storms. Finally, the report explores how the damage from even non-extreme weather events could increase due to other impacts of global warming such as sea level rise.
http://www.environmentarizona.org/news/aze/one-third-arizonans-live-areas-hit-recent-weather-disasters
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