EPA Data Shows Weather Is Less Extreme Now In The US

By Paul Homewood

 

The EPA is hardly sceptical when it comes to climate! Indeed it was at the heart of the Obama administration’s attempt to force through climate policies via the back door.

However their Climate Change Indicators webpage inadvertently proves that weather is not becoming more extreme, at least in the US:

 

 

https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators

First, let’s look at rainfall and flooding:

 

 

It is generally accepted that the US is wetter than it used to be in the first half of the 20thC. The change actually occurred in the 1970s, and rainfall trends have been pretty much flat since.

There can be no doubt whatsoever that this increase in rainfall has been largely beneficial for pretty much the whole country, and the widespread, catastrophic droughts of the 1930s and 50s are now largely a thing of the past, except on the west coast.

Above all, there is nothing in the data to suggest that the US will continue to get wetter.

The regional analysis confirms that increasing rainfall has mostly benefitted the previously drought stricken Mid West and Texas. Most of the west, including the larger part of California is little changed, and the only region which is significantly drier is the South West.

 

But what about flooding, I hear you ask!

Just because there is more rainfall does not necessarily mean that flooding will worsen. As we have seen, in many areas that extra rain has merely relieved drought, and has not been excessive enough to cause flooding.

Another factor, of course, is snowfall. Heavy snowfall can lead to terrible flooding when it suddenly starts melting in spring. It is this that has caused most of the catastrophic Mississippi floods down the years. Milder winters, even though wetter, may cause less problems in this respect, if snowfall is reduced.

When we actually look at the EPA’s River Flooding data, we see that there have been little in the way of significant changes since 1965. And where there have been, they are evenly split between increases and decreases:

Interestingly global rainfall follows a similar pattern to the US. And again it is unquestionable that extra rainfall id broadly beneficial:

Atlantic hurricane activity highlights the quiet period between 1960 and 1990, associated with the cold phase of the AMO. However, hurricanes are no more frequent now than in prior decades:

Finally the Heat Wave index shows that heat waves used to be much more severe. The worst one in recent years was in 2011/12; yet this was far from unprecedented, even if the 1930s were excluded:

 

Meanwhile, extreme cold is much less widespread and frequent than in the past:

The clear conclusion is that temperatures are much less extreme in the US nowadays.