Wild fires ravage communities across 15 states, 10 inches of rain fall in a few hours, drought lays waste to vast areas of the country, tornado season starts a month early, the most named storms strike in the month of June with Tropical Storm Debby dropping more than 20 inches of rain across Florida, and global warming continues. For insurance companies June 2012 was one of the most expensive, with reported weather related losses exceeding $2 billion.
All of this is followed by the latest report on the effects of climate change in 2011. Per a July 10 Reuters report (by Deborah Zabarenko), “Climate change increased the odds for the kind of extreme weather that prevailed in 2011, a year that saw severe drought in Texas, unusual heat in England and was one of the 15 warmest years on record, scientists reported on Tuesday. Overall, 2011 was a year of extreme events—from historic droughts in East Africa, northern Mexico, and the southern United States to an above-average cyclone season in the North Atlantic, and the end of Australia’s wettest two-year period ever—scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United Kingdom’s Met Office said.”