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Human health and well-being can be destructively affected by extreme weather events. More event-related deaths, injuries, infectious diseases, and stress-related disorders may result from an increase in the frequency of extreme events. The type, frequency and intensity of weather events define climate along with the average temperature and precipitation (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
The prevalence and severity of extremes such as heat waves, cold waves, storms, floods and droughts can be potentially altered by human-induced climate change. Because of the difficulty of predicting changes in these types of events under a changing climate, in order to estimate future climate change impacts on human health, society and the environment, it is important to understand vulnerabilities to such changes. Some projected extreme changes and their effects include:
Change:
- Higher maximum temperatures; more hot days and heat waves over nearly all land areas.
Change:
- Higher minimum temperatures; fewer cold days, frost days, and cold waves over nearly all land areas.
Change:
- More intense precipitation events over many areas.
Change:
- Increased summer drying over mid-continental areas and associated risk of drought.
Change:
- Increase in tropical cyclone (e.g. tropical storms and hurricanes) rainfall and peak winds over some areas.
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Effects:
- Increase in heat-related deaths particularly among older adults and urban poor.
- Shifts in tourism.
- Increased risk of damage to some crops.
- Increased cooling demand.
Effects:
- Decrease in cold-related deaths.
- Decreased risk of damage to some crops and increased risk to others.
- Increased range of some pests and diseases.
- Reduced heating demand.
Effects:
- Increased flood, landslide, avalanche, and mudslide damage.
- Increased soil erosion.
- Increased flood runoff could recharge some floodplains.
Effects:
- Decreased water resource quantity and quality.
- Increased risk of forest fire.
Effects:
- Increased risks to human life, risk of infectious disease epidemics and other risks.
- Increased coastal erosion and damage to coastal buildings and infrastructure.
- Increased damage to coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves.
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It is important to understand that it is not possible to directly link any one specific extreme event to (human-caused) global warming. The probability of some ordinary weather events reaching extreme levels, or of some extreme events becoming more extreme, however, may be increased by global warming (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
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