Report Says Severe Weather to Increase as Earth Warms

As humans emit more greenhouse gases, North America is likely to experience more droughts and excessive heat even as intense downpours and hurricanes increase, according to a report issued today by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.

The 162-page study, which was led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, provides the most comprehensive assessment yet of how global warming has helped to transform the climate of the United States and Canada over the past 50 years, and how it may do so in the future.

Warning that extreme weather events “are among the most serious challenges to society in coping with a changing climate,” the report finds that “recent and projected changes in climate and weather extremes have primarily negative impacts.”

Washington Post