Saturday, October 14, 2017

Poll:  Americans Blame Wild Weather on Global Warming

In this Aug. 27, 2017, file photo, people look at submerged cars on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey near downtown Houston, Texas. After Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria blitzed the nation, most Americans think weather disasters are getting more severe and they see global warming’s fingerprints all over them. A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research says 68 percent of those surveyed think weather disasters seem to be worsening, compared to 28 percent who think they are staying the same and only 4 percent who say they are less severe. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) Click to Enlarge.
After hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria blitzed the nation, most Americans think weather disasters are getting more severe and see global warming’s fingerprints.

A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 68 percent of Americans think weather disasters seem to be worsening, compared to 28 percent who think they are staying the same and only 4 percent who say they are less severe.

And 46 percent of those who think it’s getting worse blame man-made climate change mostly or solely for the wild weather, while another 39 percent say it’s a combination of global warming and natural variability.

“Just with all the hurricanes that are happening this year ... it just seems like things are kind of mixed up,” said Kathy Weber, a 46-year-old stay-at-home mom from Menomonie, Wisconsin.

When Hurricane Nate washed ashore in the Gulf Coast earlier this month, it was one of the first storms that Greg Thompson did not evacuate for.  Thompson, a retired pest control researcher in New Orleans, said “it’s pretty irrational” that people and politicians can deny global warming when the Gulf of Mexico is so much hotter than decades ago and storms seem so much more powerful.

“When so many things are happening and so many of them (storms) are intense and so many of them are once-in-500-year levels and they’re all occurring, it’s a pretty good sign global warming is having an effect,” Thompson said.

Read more at Poll:  Americans Blame Wild Weather on Global Warming

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