ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - More flooding, hotter summers, an increase in damaging storms—that’s what we can expect from the latest federal report on climate change.
The latest assessment of climate change suggests “extreme rainfall events” and flooding have increased over the past century, and that’s expected to continue.
Jim Kramper, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in St. Louis, says the reason it’s all happening is not as clear-cut.
“It’s very difficult to point to a local weather thing that has happened and say, ‘This is why it’s happened,’” he says. “You can’t say this is happening because of climate change. It’s a little risky to say that.”
Kramper says there’s a lot of good information in the report, but adds there’s no reason to overreact.
“From what I’ve seen so far, it’s not dramatically different from what people have been seeing for the last five years or so,” he says. “The evidence still seems to be going in the same direction, that we’re going through a warming phase.”
Despite being more than 800 pages long, Kramper says there are still a lot of things missing from the latest report, such as whether climate change is natural or man-made, or what exactly is being done to counteract it.
For the record the latest climate report shows that in our area the average air temperature has risen a degree-and-a-half over the past century and the number of heavy rainstorms have increased “significantly” since the early 90s.
It also says decreasing air quality is impacting the health of 20 million people living in the Midwest.
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
MORE LOCAL NEWS:
- Task Force Recommends New District for Normandy Schools
- Fire Damages East St. Louis Business
- Dam Breach Threatens Homes in Jefferson County
- Caretaker Wins in Wizard of Oz Actor Case
- Man Gets 70 Years For Shooting East St. Louis Cop
- Homeless Man Charged In Downtown Murder
