New Broken Records in the Climate Crisis
Severe storms have caused a record-breaking $60 Billion plus in damages this year as record heat for 2023 triggers another alarm - here's what's happening and how you can get involved in a solution.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring that supports economic vitality in the US by predicting weather events that affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. On Monday, the NOAA reported that Hurricane Idalia had become the 23rd weather catastrophe to strike the United States this year, and could cause up to $20 billion in damages. This new number obliterates the previous record of 22 storms which was set in 2020 and there are still four months left in this year.
The NOAA tracks disasters back to 1980, using public and private data, which includes insurance payouts and infrastructure damage, to estimate their economic impact. Over time, this convergence of data has shown an unmistakable increase in the frequency and overall cost of severe weather-based catastrophes across the nation.
The tally for this year includes a startling number of severe storms that have wreaked havoc on wide swaths of the nation, including tornadoes that damaged homes and businesses across the South and Midwest; destructive hailstorms in Minnesota and Colorado; atmospheric rivers that heaped copious amounts of rainfall on California; severe flooding in Vermont; and the horrific wildfire that destroyed Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
While the United States has experienced an average of about eight billion-dollar disasters annually over the past four decades, five of the past six years have seen losses total an excess of more than $100 billion. This brings the five-year average cost up to $20 billion per year and an average of 18 weather-related catastrophic events in the United States annually.
There are many complex reasons for the recent rise in billion-dollar disasters that each involve multiple factors, a more prominent problem is the migration of Americans to vulnerable areas. Census records reflect astounding growth of 623 percent in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area from 1970 to 2020, which is more than 760,000 people. Over that same period, the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area grew to 283 percent to nearly 834,000 residents and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater saw growth of more than 187 percent.
This influx of migration to areas like Florida’s West Coast has increased development overall, thereby placing more assets in the path of destruction. Stephen Strader, a hazards geographer and professor at Villanova University, responded to this issue of expanding population with the following: “People want to live near the coasts and live near the beach, but that comes with a cost [and] unfortunately, we have to bear the brunt of that risk.” Strader continued, “There are more people than ever before in the path of these storms… [who] are going to be experiencing a hurricane for the first time.”
In addition to the increased number of storms that are causing billions in damage, August of 2023 was the planet’s hottest August in the history of NOAA’s 174-year climate record. According to an analysis by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, “the sizzling month [of August] also wrapped up the Northern Hemisphere’s warmest meteorological summer and the Southern Hemisphere’s warmest meteorological winter on record.”
Chief NOAA Scientist Dr. Sarah Kapnick elaborates on this heat phenomenon by saying the recent analysis “highlights the suite of climate services provided by NOAA, which informs a climate-ready nation.” Kapnick continues, “Not only was last month the warmest August on record by quite a lot, it was also the globe’s 45th-consecutive August and the 534th-consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average. Dr. Kapnick draws the ultimate conclusion of this data by saying, “Global marine heat waves and a growing El Niño are driving additional warming this year, but as long as emissions continue driving a steady march of background warming, we expect further records to be broken in the years to come.”
August of this year also had the lowest global sea ice extent, which is known as the area of ice on record that covers the Arctic Ocean at a given time. Globally, the sea ice extent coverage in August 2023 was about 550,000 square miles less than the previous record low from August 2019. Sea ice extent in Antarctica continued to track at record lows as well, as the continent saw its fourth-consecutive month with the lowest sea ice extent on record. Six of the first eight months in 2023 have seen Antarctic sea ice extent at record-breaking low levels.
According to the NOAA, the tropics were also greatly affected in August by the soaring temperatures. That month alone saw nineteen named storms occur, which is tied for the third most accumulation of storms for the month of August since 1981. Eight of those 2023 disturbances reached major tropical cyclone strength, which involves sustained winds of 111 mph or higher, and ties the record breaking-year of August of 2015 for the most August storms on record. The Atlantic Ocean had six storms in August including two hurricanes, and the measured activity was considered above normal by all standards. Additionally, the East Pacific basin hosted six named storms, including three major hurricanes, and the West Pacific had seven storms, six of which became typhoons.
While many of the details included in this article may be nothing new to the majority of those who are paying attention to the issue of climate change, this is a situation that can be so disturbing that it causes many people to tune out. The best way to combat public apathy is to get active in spreading awareness and registering new voters who will make their voices heard on climate at the ballot box.
Senate Democrats have specifically created a Special Committee on the Climate Crisis exactly for this purpose, with the intent of examining how climate change is affecting the country and the planet, and mobilizing action and support for bold climate solutions. It is critical that we support this mission in the lead-up to the 2024 election, by helping to ensure that everyone is informed on the issues and more importantly, by getting more voters to elect leaders who are willing to tackle climate change issues.
You can get involved today by getting a paid subscription to SHERO, which is committed to promoting ideas for solving the current climate crisis. You can join Swing Left, a grassroots organization that registers new voters to help win elections for the Left. You can let the Democratic Party know that you want to make climate change an issue that takes precedence as we head into the next election cycle, by getting involved here. I look forward to heading into this next election cycle fully armed with the critical knowledge we all need, and the coordination that will effect real change.
Please join me.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
Paid subscriptions and one-time tributes embedded in each article allow me to keep publishing critical and informative work that is sometimes made available to the public — thank you. If you like this piece and want to support independent journalism further, you can forward this article to others, get a paid subscription or gift subscription, or donate as much as you like today.
And it is going to get worse if we don't stop fossil fuels
Maps like this are terrific visual aids in identifying where FEMA dollars are being monopolized. Pretty impressive that the state with the highest population, Democratic Governor and "clean energy" promoting utilities has a very small footprint in the "take" column. 💚 Great job California!