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The US is a Haven for Weather Catastrophes – Here’s Why

by Lucas Garcia
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The United States is the place that gets hit with some of the worst weather in the world. This happens for a few reasons. The US has two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Rocky Mountains providing it with lots of places for deep clouds to gather and dependant on which direction winds are blowing, stormy fronts can form. Additionally, a strong air stream, known as a jet stream causes more extreme weather such as extremely cold winters or scorching hot summers that no other part of the planet experiences.

Nature has not been kind to the United States, and unfortunately, people have made it worse by building in poor areas and ways. To make matters even worse, climate change is causing more extreme events than ever before. According to Rick Spinrad from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), we should all be ready for what will come.

We live in a place that is sometimes unlucky when it comes to weather. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and heat waves are just some of the tough weather conditions we can experience here. We also get snowy winters with nor’easters, blizzards and lake-effect snow. Wildfires, hail and lightning storms happen in summer months. Atmospheric rivers, derechos (strong winds) and dust storms while monsoons, polar vortexes and bomb cyclones can all show up too! According to North Carolina state climatologist Kathie Dello “It starts with ‘where we are on the globe.'”

China may have a lot of people and a huge land area, similar to the U.S., but their air is usually not very windy which means there isn’t much severe weather like in the U.S. The U.S. has way more tornadoes and other bad storms than anywhere else.

Victor Gensini from Northern Illinois University said that two factors could explain why Friday’s weather was so dangerous: the Gulf of Mexico and high ground to the west. When dry air from the west meets warm, humid air from the gulf, they are mixed in a stormy jet stream and make the weather become very dangerous. For example, this kind of weather will last for at least a week.

In the western areas of the US, people keep experiencing a lot of wet weather coming from ‘atmospheric rivers.’ In the Atlantic Ocean, there are lots of winter storms, called ‘nor’easters,’ and summer hurricanes too. Sometimes, these two types of storm mix together to make really big hurricanes, like Superstorm Sandy.

Basically, no matter what part of America you live in, bad weather is something that can just happen without warning. For example, in December 2021 Kentucky got hit by super-strong tornadoes – showing how unpredictable and difficult to plan for bad weather can be!

The tornadoes hit areas with many people from places like Central and South America, Bosnia and Africa. Those people had never faced tornadoes before and so they did not know what to watch for or how to be prepared. Joseph Trujillo Falcon from NOAA investigator looked into the aftermath of this issue.

In the Arctic, air is cold and in the tropics it’s warm. The area between them, which includes the U.S., experiences special weather because of how drastically different the air temperatures contrast with each other. This difference affects something called the jet stream which moves from north to south. Plus, mountain ranges traveling north to south can disrupt winds that flow from west to east, while underneath all this movement lies the warmer Gulf of Mexico water.

Air heated by the Gulf of Mexico pushes air up into the sky over the South. This is a very unusual situation and doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. It means that compared to other states, it’s usually hotter and drier in the South. University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said so himself – this isn’t just anyone talking!

The South is much more likely to experience all kinds of extreme weather events like blizzards, wildfires, tornadoes, and floods – no other place in the U.S. can say that! Florida, North Carolina, and Louisiana also stand out in the water so they’re more at risk for being hit by hurricanes.

In the South, it’s especially dangerous during storms because they usually happen at night. People can’t see the storm coming and they are often unaware of a warning. This is even more dangerous as many homes in the area do not have enough protection from extreme weather. Ashley and Gensini said that natural disasters occur due to both nature and humans.

A lot of cities in America and other parts of the world get built near water sources that might flood. Except for Denver, that is. People are also moving to places, like the South, which have more dangerous weather conditions.

You can make your community safer from natural disasters by not developing it in dangerous areas. For example, building on barrier islands along the East and Gulf coasts is a waste of money since hurricanes will just wash away the sand there.

The construction standards that are used nowadays are at the lowest level, which makes them less likely to survive through storms easily. This is due to our crumbling infrastructure which is not well prepared for a changing climate. Furthermore, poverty can also worsen this problem in many places and make it harder to recover from disasters. This issue is even worse in other parts of the world.

Ashley said, “Fortunately people with a lot of money have the power to buy safety which means they can protect themselves from any disasters more easily. However, not everyone is lucky enough to have that kind of resources.” Kim Cobb – a professor who studies how environment affects us all – added, “It’s sad that we experience these difficult losses. We’d make it easier on ourselves if we better understand our specific needs based on where we live.”

If you want to stay updated with the latest news about climate and environment, check out the Associated Press’s coverage at https://bigbignews.net/climate-and-environment. You can follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter – the username is @borenbears. Private foundations support AP’s coverage of climate and environment, so be sure to read more about it here! The AP is responsible for all content.

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