A national survey conducted in the final months of 2013 finds that a majority, but fewer Americans (70%, down 14 percentage points since fall 2012) report that they experienced one or more extreme weather events in the past year.
“By comparison to the record-setting extreme weather disaster years of 2011 and 2012, the year 2013 in the United States was relatively calm, with no land-falling hurricanes, fewer tornadoes and drought relief in the Great Plains. In turn, fewer Americans say they experienced an extreme weather event last year,” said lead researcher Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D., of Yale University. “People in the Northeast, Midwest and South, however, were more likely to report experiencing extreme cold or a snowstorm in 2013 than they did in 2012.”
The survey also found that a large majority of Americans say their state and local government should prioritize the protection of public water supplies (78%), transportation/roads/bridges (73%), people’s health (72%), the electricity system (71%), agriculture (70%), and public sewer systems (69%) from extreme weather over the next 10 years.
These findings come from a nationally representative survey—“Climate Change in the American Mind”—conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.
In addition to Leiserowitz, principal investigators included Geoff Feinberg, Dr. Seth Rosenthal and Dr. Jennifer Marlon of Yale University; Drs. Edward Maibach and Connie Roser-Renouf of George Mason University; and Dr. Peter Howe of Utah State University.
Source: Yale University
