Weather-related natural disasters at record high
October 2nd, 2008 by Jim JustWorldWatch Institute reports that weather-related natural disasters have increased to an all-time high.
In 2007, there were 874 weather-related disasters worldwide, a 13-percent increase over 2006 and the highest number since the systematic recording of natural perils began in 1974. Weather-related disasters around the world have been on the rise for decades. On average, 300 events were recorded every year in the 1980s, 480 events in the 1990s, and 620 events in the last 10 years.
Weather-related disasters encompass meteorological, hydrological, and climatological events. Meteorological events include tropical cyclones (hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones), extratropical cyclones (winter storms), and local storms (severe storms, thunderstorms, hailstorms, snowstorms, and tornadoes). Hydrological events include floods (general floods, flash floods, storm surges/coastal floods) and wet mass movements (rockfalls, landslides, avalanches, subsidence). Climatological events include extreme temperatures (heat waves, cold waves, extreme winter conditions), droughts, and wildfires (forest fires, bush/brush fires, scrub/grassland fires, urban fires).
In 2007, weather-related disasters accounted for 91 percent of all natural disasters, a broader classification that also includes earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and dry mass movements. All six “great natural disasters” in 2007 – three storms and three floods – were weather-related.
The IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report emphasizes the link between global warming and the significant likelihood of an increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Climate change is expected to lead to warmer (and fewer cold) days and nights over land areas, more heat waves, heavier precipitation, and more areas affected by droughts and more-intense tropical cyclones – all of which would increase the number of catastrophic weather events.