Global Warming Effects on Extreme Weather

Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming - Global Warming Effects on Extreme Weather - In the aftermath of severe storms across America and throughout the world, and with Bertha strengthening to the first hurricane of the season, extreme weather is on the minds of people around the globe. And while storms, floods and droughts have always occurred, science points to our changing climate as having a real effect on the severity and frequency of extreme weather events. Extreme precipitation events have increased over North America over the past 50 years. For the past decade, the West and Southwest regions have experienced drought conditions which are impacting agriculture, and contributing to the wildfire epidemic in the Western United States. On Thursday, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will hold a hearing examining the links between global warming, extreme weather events, and how these events affect close