Extreme Weather and Climate Policy Battles Reshape America's Landscape

Across the United States this week, climate change is shaping both extreme weather and political battles. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the year is ending with record warmth across much of the country, extending an unusually long wildfire season in the West and deepening drought conditions in parts of the southern Plains and Southwest, while intense, moisture laden storms have brought repeated flooding to the Pacific Northwest and parts of the Midwest. The National Weather Service has linked these extremes to the combination of a strong El Nino and the long term warming trend driven by greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the United States Drought Monitor, severe to exceptional drought now grips large areas of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and the central Great Plains, stressing water supplies and agriculture, while California and the Mountain West face below average snowpack that threatens next years water security. At the same time, the National Interagency Fire Center reports that fall and winter fire activity has persisted in states such as California and Oregon, with officials warning that hotter, drier conditions are lengthening the traditional fire season.

On the coasts, new research from the University of California system has highlighted accelerating sea level rise driven by climate change, projecting that by mid century tens of thousands of homes and critical infrastructure around the San Francisco Bay, Miami, and low lying communities along the Gulf Coast could face chronic flooding. The study warns that sunny day, or tidal, flooding is already becoming more frequent, a trend the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has also documented along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Amid these impacts, climate policy fights have intensified. The New York Times reports that a federal judge has blocked the Federal Emergency Management Agency from canceling four and a half billion dollars in climate resiliency grants under the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, a win for twenty two states that argued the projects will prevent an estimated one hundred fifty billion dollars in disaster damages over the next two decades. The United States Climate Alliance, a coalition of states committed to the Paris Agreement, says its members have now cut net greenhouse gas emissions to about twenty four percent below two thousand five levels while their economies grew, and governors are accelerating investments in heat pumps, electric vehicles, and grid modernization.

Globally, the United Nations climate secretariat and scientific bodies including the World Meteorological Organization warn that worldwide emissions remain near record highs, and that without faster cuts, extreme heat waves, megafires, and flooding events seen this year on every continent will become even more frequent and severe.

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