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For decades, scientists have said that human-caused climate change (caused by burning fossil fuels and resulting greenhouse gases) will drive increasingly extreme weather: hotter air and oceans and melting sea ice alter the jet stream which brings and stalls storm fronts, makes hurricanes wetter and stronger, and worsens western droughts and wildfires. "2021 was, in essence, watching the climate projections of the past come true," said Rachel Licker, a senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The fingerprints of climate change were all over many of the billion-dollar events that hit the US this year."
In the West, 2021 brought extreme climate events in the form of flooding in California from an atmospheric river event, widespread drought, a destructive December wildfire in a suburban area, and a heat wave in the Pacific Northwest that scientists say would have been virtually impossible without climate change.
"What's concerning about 2021 is it's yet another year in a series of years where we have both a high frequency, high cost, and a large diversity of these extreme events that affect people's lives and livelihoods," said Adam Smith, a climatologist with NOAA who led the recent report. "Over the last five years, the United States has experienced almost $750 billion of damages from these billion-dollar disasters, which is really off the charts... 2022 may not be any different."
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I find his tone and I find his approach unconstructive and embarrassing. [Paul Gosar] quite frankly paints an easy target on the back of companies like myself, who are trying to advance mining projects. It’s very difficult to defend, and it’s not necessary.”
