Weather disasters have become five times more common since 1970, due in large part to climate change, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Weather disasters have become five times more common since 1970, due in large part to climate change, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
“The number of weather, climate, and water extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world as a result of climate change,” WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. “That means more heatwaves, drought, and forest fires such as those we have observed recently in Europe and North America.”
Of the 77 weather-related disasters to strike between 2015 and 2017, 62 show the influence of human-caused climate change, the report found. And the pace of climate change is now accelerating, portending more catastrophic disasters in the years to come, according to a scientific assessment from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in August.
The new report found that storms and floods were the most prevalent disasters, with storms causing the deepest economic losses. The five costliest disasters ever are all hurricanes that have struck the United States in the last two decades. The United States accounts for more than one third of all losses caused by weather, climate, and water hazards.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
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