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Why is the US the world’s punching bag for extreme weather?

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Why is the US the world's punching bag for extreme weather?

The United States is the planet’s punching bag for severe weather — and its geography is to blame, according to experts.

The country is being battered by more intense, costly, more diverse and more frequent weather extremes than anywhere on Earth, with two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, prominent peninsulas like Florida, conflicting storm fronts and The rapids combine naturally to brew the worst weather.

But while nature is bad for America, experts say what, where and how people build is making it worse.

Add to that climate change, and NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad warned: “Buckle up your seat belts. Expect more extreme events.”

flash flood
People walk in flood waters after homes and businesses were inundated in California in January (Noah Berger/AP)

It starts with “where we are on the planet,” says North Carolina climatologist Kathie Dello. “It’s a bit… unlucky.”

China has a larger population and the same large land area as the United States, but “they don’t have the kind of air mass conflicts that produce a lot of severe weather like in the United States,” said another expert, University of South Carolina Institute for Disaster Vulnerability and Resilience. Susan Cutter – Says.

The United States is by far the king of tornadoes and other severe storms.

“It really started with two things,” said Victor Gensini, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University. “The first is the Gulf of Mexico. The second is the highlands to the west.”

blizzard
Snow and freezing weather hit parts of the U.S., including Massachusetts, in March (Ben Garver/AP)

In the West, it’s the drumbeat of atmospheric rivers. In the Atlantic, it’s northeasterly winds in winter, hurricanes in summer, and sometimes a weird mix of both, like Superstorm Sandy.

“It’s a reality that no matter where you are in the country, wherever you call home, you’ve probably experienced high-impact weather events first-hand,” Mr Spinrad said.

The deadly tornadoes that hit Kentucky in December 2021 illustrated America’s uniqueness.

They attacked areas with large immigrant populations. People fleeing Central and South America, Bosnia and Africa are among the victims.

Joseph Trujillo Falcon, a social scientist who investigates tornadoes, said a huge problem was that the tornadoes hadn’t happened in these people’s previous homes, so they didn’t know what to look out for or do, or even Didn’t know they had to worry about the tornado aftermath.

lake mead
Water levels on Lake Mead in Nevada have dropped so much that previously sunken boats are now standing upright (John Locher/AP)

Then add the mountains running north-south, projecting in the winds flowing from west to east, and beneath it the whole of the Gulf of Mexico.

Mr Gensini said the bay pumped hot, humid air beneath the cool, dry air normally lifted by mountains “in a way that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world”.

Marshall Shepard, a former president of the American Meteorological Society and a professor of meteorology at the University of Georgia, said that if the whole of the United States is bad, the worst is in the South.

“We’ve drawn the short straw (in the South) and we really get to experience every single extreme weather event,” he said. “Including blizzards. Including wildfires, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes. Every type . . . nowhere else in the United States can that be said.”

hurricane damage
Hurricane Ian in October destroyed a bridge from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

The South has more man-made houses, is vulnerable to all kinds of weather hazards, and is more likely to experience storms at night. Nighttime storms are deadly because people cannot see them and are less likely to dodge, and they miss warnings in their sleep.

The extreme weather triggered by the unique geography of the United States has caused harm. But Mr Ashley and Mr Guncini say only humans can turn these hazards into disasters.

Look at the cities popping up in the US and elsewhere in the world: near flooded waters, except Denver, Ms. Carter said. More and more people are moving to more dangerous areas, such as the South.

deep snow
A team from the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab works in an 18-foot-deep snow pit in Sauda Springs, Calif., in early March (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group/AP)

“Insisting on building barrier islands and developing barrier islands, especially on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, knowing that the sand will move and hurricanes will hit with some frequency … seems like a huge waste of money.”

Mr Ashley warned building standards were often at a minimum and were unlikely to survive the storm.

“Our infrastructure is collapsing and simply cannot withstand climate change.

Experts say that poverty makes it difficult for people to prepare for and recover from disasters, especially in the South, and that vulnerability is a bigger problem elsewhere in the world.

“Security can be bought,” Mr Ashley said. “Those who are well off and have the resources can buy security and are the most resilient when disaster strikes.

“Unfortunately, it’s not all of us.”

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