New Expectations Set
On March 16, 2025, communities from Texas to Pennsylvania witnessed some of the worst thunderstorm squalls on record. What they thought was an “uncommonly powerful thunderstorm” might become a new normal.
Last year, the earth faced its hottest year on record. Record-breaking hurricanes slammed the Gulf Coast, causing catastrophes in the southeast. One of the worst tornado seasons on record broke out. Some of the largest wildfires spread throughout Los Angeles. What we thought was a “bad weather season” might have actually just been the start of the new expectations for natural disasters.
Natural Disasters Only To Get Worse
Predictions state that every year, temperatures and severe weather will climb a bit more than the previous year, and every year that goes by, the climb between the two will be more significant. No matter where you live, natural disasters will become more present and stronger. More heat means stronger hurricanes and longer tornado seasons. Hurricanes depend on warmth, and a warming ocean is just giving them what they want to get stronger.
Foods Affected
A world with more disasters also could limit or at least worsen our food productions. Farms face damages from severe storms, and the crops can go under heat stress. Many crops fail to produce food when temperatures exceed 90 degrees F. For example, southern states now have to grow many vegetables (such as peas and onions) during the winter time because the regular growing season is becoming too hot for several crops. An off-season frost can kill farms in that area, also damaging food production.
This winter, we faced a very poor orange season because the trees were stressed due to the poor and varying weather conditions.
Money Loss
Imagine you walk up from your basement to find your house torn apart by the tornado. Or to find your entire town in pieces from hurricanes. These are real things that happen all the time, and they’re only becoming more common. Up in the smoky mountains, the tail of North Carolina seems to be the last place you’d expect a hurricane tragedy, at over 300 miles from a coastline. However, last September, almost all 100,000+ residents from Asheville were devastated and nearly three hundred casualties reported. The area is not likely to recover anytime soon.
A similar story starts in South Carolina, where areas from Myrtle Beach to Savannah saw thirty inches of rain in a day. Keep in mind the hurricane made landfall 500 miles away in Florida.
In 2013, the world's largest tornado broke out on the outskirts of Oklahoma city, nearly three miles wide. The city of Moore faced a scar from it that is still visible from above today.
Photo By: Adam Orgler