Extreme weather events are becoming more severe, not less
CLAIM: Climate, weather or meteorological events that we would classify as “extreme” have declined in severity over the last 20 or 30 years. Scientific research has documented how events including extreme precipitation, droughts and forest fires have become more frequent and severe as a result of climate change. THE FACTS: A podcast clip shared on Instagram this week falsely claims that extreme climate, weather and meteorological events “are actually declining in severity.” “We could look at accumulated cyclonic energy — typhoons in the Pacific, hurricanes in the Atlantic — and it’s actually declined over the last 20 or 30 years,” the speaker says in the video, which amassed thousands of likes. Another speaker in the podcast clip claims that “it’s as if we’re supposed to pretend that before the invention of the combustion engine, that everything in history was serene, calm, spring-like.” He claims that idea is “absurd.” It’s true that climate events weren’t always mild before the combustion engine was invented, but NASA data does show that atmospheric carbon dioxide began skyrocketing to unprecedented levels in the late 1800s, when the combustion engine was first used. The clip also ignores “some of the most certain ways climate change makes extreme weather more extreme,” including increasing the chances of heat waves, extreme precipitation, and extreme sea level events, according to Dessler.
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