Disastrous flooding in the Hudson Valley. An unrelenting heat dome over Phoenix. Sea temperatures reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit off the coast of Miami. A surprise flood in Vermont, a rare tornado in Delaware.
A decade ago, any of these events would have been considered an anomaly. This week they’re happening simultaneously as climate change fuels extreme weather conditions, leading New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, to put it: “our new normal.”
Last month, smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed major cities across the country, a deadly heatwave hit Texas and Oklahoma, and torrential rains inundated parts of Chicago.
“It’s not just a figment of your imagination, nor is it because everyone now has a smartphone,” said Jeff Berardelli, chief meteorologist and climate specialist at WFLA News in Tampa. “We have observed an increase in extreme weather events. This is undoubtedly happening.”
It could get even more extreme. A strong El Niño is threatening this year in the Pacific Ocean, which will release additional heat into the atmosphere and lead to even worse storms around the world.
“We’re going to see things happen on Earth this year that we haven’t seen in modern history,” Berardelli said.
But even as storms, fires and floods become more frequent, climate change remains a sideline for most voters. In a nation focused on inflation, political scandals and celebrity feuds, just 8 percent of Americans identified global warming as the top issue facing the country, according to a recent study NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
As climate catastrophes become more frequent, they may lose their shock value. A 2019 study came to this conclusion People learn to accept extreme weather back to normal in just two years.
“Not only is this a complicated issue, it is vying for attention in a dynamic, uncertain and complicated world,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
Lilian Lovas, a 77-year-old lifelong Chicagoan, said she’s seen how climate change has affected her hometown but is avoiding the news to stay positive.
“It used to be so cold here in the winter, but now we only have a few really bitter days a year,” she said. “I choose and do my part, but things are really out of my hands.”
Kristina Hengl, 51, a retail worker in Chicago, said she’s not so sure the weather extremes are something that’s never happened before.
“I’m not a scientist, so it’s hard for me to judge,” she said, before issuing an inaccurate statement. “There has always been change on our planet and this might just be the cycle of life. You have to remember that deserts used to have lakes, Lake Michigan wasn’t always a lake.”
Despite growing concern among climate scientists, there is little evidence of widespread societal change that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are dangerously heating the planet.
“Even when storms and other climate extremes do occur, we prefer to pretend they don’t affect us when they occur remotely because we don’t want to do the things necessary to deal with this threat.”, said Paul Slovic, a professor at the University of Oregon who specializes in the psychology of risk and decision-making.
“More and more people recognize climate change as a problem, but they don’t like the solutions,” added Mr. Slovic. “They don’t want to lose the comfort and convenience that we get from using energy from the wrong sources, etc.”
Last Thursday, on what researchers say was the hottest day in modern history, a record number of commercial flights were airborne, each emitting more gases that are warming the planet. according to Flightradar24.
As wildfires and sea level rise devastate communities from California to North Carolina, residents continue to rebuild in disaster-prone areas.
And while more and more electricity is generated from wind, solar and other clean energy sources, the world is still largely powered by fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal, the main sources of global warming.
The cumulative effects of all these greenhouse gases are now terrifyingly visible around the globe. The planet has warmed an average of 1.2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, leading to a dizzying array of extreme weather events.
Studies show that last year’s deadly floods in Pakistan, the heat dome that devastated the Pacific Northwest in 2021, and Hurricane Maria that hit Puerto Rico in 2017 were all made worse by climate change.
“Climate change is here now,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s not far away in Antarctica, and it’s not in the future either. It is these extreme weather events caused by climate change that we are all experiencing.”
According to the study, weather disasters that cause more than $1 billion in damage are on the rise in the United States a Climate Central analysis from data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 1980, the average time between billion-dollar disasters was 82 days. From 2018 to 2022, the average time between these most extreme events, even adjusted for inflation, was just 18 days.
“Climate change is driving these events to new levels,” said Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist at Climate Central. “We don’t take breaks in between like we used to.”
Human activities have had such a major impact on the planet’s ecosystems and climate that scientists are now assuming Discussing whether to explain that the Earth has entered a new geologic time interval: the Anthropocene.
And with emissions still rising around the world, scientists are warning that there is little time for a drastic change in course before the impact becomes truly catastrophic.
“That’s the last slap we’re going to get if it might still matter,” said Bill McKibben, a longtime climate activist. “It’s obviously a pivotal moment in Earth’s climate history. It must also be a defining moment in Earth’s political history.”
In the United States, climate change is a partisan issue, as many Republican leaders question established climate science, promote fossil fuels, and oppose renewable energy.
Climate researchers and environmentalists are hoping that each new hurricane and hailstorm could prompt American action.
A poll of adults this spring found that the majority are now concerned about climate change and support federal action to combat global warming and promote clean energy A recent poll from Yale.
Even in Florida, a state that has become more conservative in recent years, a growing number of residents believe humans are causing climate change, including a record number of Republicans, they said a survey by Florida Atlantic University.
“Survey data has shifted in recent years, and I bet it’s going to falter again,” McKibben said. “At some point, when you see enough fires and floods, who are you going to believe?”
Additional reporting from Cara BuckleyRobert Charito, Delger Erdenesanaa And Raymond Zhong.
