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US To Experience Another Summer Of Extreme Heat As Trump Administration Cuts Key Agencies 

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This summer is already set to be one of the hottest on record in the United States. With worsening weather conditions and a multitude of extreme climate events, the US is preparing the best they can for the coming months. 

While preparation measures are in place, there is major concern over the lingering impacts of the Trump Administration cutting funding for key agencies that assist the nation for these conditions. Funding and staff for federal science, forecasting resources, and disaster response agencies have been cut drastically throughout the US, which could leave many citizens vulnerable. 

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According to the latest forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the extreme heat this summer will be “widespread.” Many parts of America have already begun to feel the impact in these beginning weeks of summer. 

The NOAA reported that throughout the spring this year there was a lack of precipitation. That combined with high temperatures and dry conditions could lead to increased levels of drought and wildfires this summer. 

Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” has made major cuts to the National Weather Service, specifically in Texas where the Houston office for the service has been left understaffed and without any permanent leadership, according to reports from the Guardian. 

Despite the fact that the US, and the world, has been continuously left susceptible to threatening weather conditions, federal science agencies like NOAA have been forced to operate at a reduced capacity and without proper funding. 

These cuts have led to hundreds of meteorologists leaving the National Weather Service. Now, Americans are turning to their local and state officials for guidance when it comes to handling heat and extreme weather. Non-profits and universities have also become a reliable source of information when it comes to handling our changing climate. 

From Rice University in Houston, climate scientist Sylvia Dee and her colleagues have described the major heat we’ve experienced as a “slow violence” against humanity. Climate change as a whole is a major threat to our health. Air pollution combined with extreme weather creates an environment that will become unsustainable for a healthy life. 

“There’s just so many things that center around heat stress. Extreme heat can hijack our brain’s ability to think clearly. Those executive functions like decision-making and inhibition and sequencing tasks, they all become harder,” Adrienne Heinz, a clinical research psychologist at Stanford University, said to reporters. 

“It becomes like walking through mud. It affects your ability to learn if you’re a student or your ability to perform if you’re an employee. It doesn’t leave anything untouched, really.”

The NOAA reports that excessive heat levels are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the US. According to a 2024 report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, heat-related deaths in the US have increased by 117% since 1999. 

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Dee has stated that Texas is a prime example of what the US should look at to see the devastating impacts of climate change. 

“I feel like Houston is ground zero for climate change. I think there’s some level of frustration amongst us because, you know, we have been living through these conditions for many years,” she said. 

“We’re going to have more people in harm’s way. The exposure of Houstonians to weather and climate disasters will only increase. We’re very overwhelmed and trying desperately to sound the alarm.”

Heinz emphasized these points regarding the current, and worsening, impacts that our climate conditions have on human health. 

“These prolonged heat waves affect sleep, the cornerstone of our mental health. Our ability to weather adversity and emotionally regulate is compromised when we’re not getting good sleep.”

With staffing and funding cuts, it’s unclear how much federal bodies will be able to prepare and respond to extreme weather such as heat emergencies. 

An anonymous climate scientist from the Department of Energy said: 

“It’s pretty scary. Summers are only getting hotter, and wildfire seasons have been getting longer and more intense for years. These disruptions to federal science infrastructure and emergency response capacity come at the worst possible time.”

As a means of combatting the removal of necessary protections and funding from the Trump administration, many heat-prone cities and states, such as Arizona, California, and Nevada, have written and passed legislation, regulations, and ordinances to create a baseline for combatting extreme heat, and climate change in general. 

Mandy Ikert, the head of climate resilience with C40, an international group of cities working together on climate issues, said “with the health, safety, and economic impacts of extreme weather increasing, mayors know that inaction is not an option.” 

“Cities are taking a broad range of approaches to help their residents stay safe during the heat season, including investing in cooling centers, increased communication to residents, and new policies to make buildings and the people inside them safer.”

weather

US To Stop Tracking Costs Of Extreme Weather Caused By Climate Change 

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has stated that they will no longer be tracking the cost of climate change-fueled weather disasters including flooding, heat waves, wildfires, and more. This is all a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to limit federal government resourcing regarding climate change. 

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The NOAA is under the US Department of Commerce. They’re responsible for providing the US with daily weather forecasts, severe storm and hurricane warnings, and general climate monitoring. The NOAA is the parent of the National Weather Service.

Within the NOAA is the National Centers for Environmental Information, which has a billion-dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database. The agency will now cease updating the database beyond 2024, and will be archiving all of its information which dates back to 1980. 

The database has a very detailed record of hundreds of major events across the US and the trillions of dollars worth of damage that hurricanes, storms, droughts, and more cause. 

Kim Doster, the NOAA Communications Director, released a statement saying that the changes are “in alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes.” 

Scientists are now warning that extreme weather events across the US have become more and more frequent, and the damage has worsened due to climate change. Many experts have connected recent weather events to the impacts of climate change. 

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“The NOAA database is the gold standard we use to evaluate the costs of extreme weather, and it’s a major loss, since it comes at a time when we need to better understand how much climate change is increasing disaster losses,” Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, said to AP. 

“[This doesn’t] change the fact that these disasters are escalating year over year. Extreme weather events that cause a lot of damage are one of the primary ways that the public sees that climate change is happening and is affecting people,” Kristina Dahl, vice president of science at nonprofit climate organization Climate Central.

“It’s critical that we highlight those events when they’re happening. All of these changes will make Americans less safe in the face of climate change.”

President Donald Trump and his administration have been increasing their efforts to remove practically all references to climate change and its impact from the federal government’s lexicon and documents. The administration has prioritized aligning themselves with oil and gas industries, which are linked to climate change and damage. 

The Trump Administration also fired hundreds of weather forecasters and federal NOAA employees as a part of their effort to downsize the federal government’s workforce.

Hurricane

Hurricanes Continue To Get Stronger As A Result Of Climate Change, According To New Study

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Climate change is still just as much of an issue as it’s been for the best decade, however, the intensity of concern over our planet’s climate crisis has subsided due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even so, it’s becoming increasingly evident to scientists around the world that major natural events such as hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical cyclones have the potential to become much more deadly as the planet continues to heat up. 

According to a study performed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the probability of storms reaching a hurricane status of category 3, with winds exceeding 110 miles-per-hour, has consecutively increased every decade for the past 40 years. 

“The change is about 8% per decade. In other words, during its lifetime, a hurricane is 8% more likely to be a major hurricane in this decade compared to the last decade,” said Jim Kossin, author of the study.

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The idea that natural disasters get stronger as climate change worsens is not a new concept, and the data has clearly proven this to be correct within the past four decades. The study states that initially researchers were just looking at data from 25 years ago, however, looking back even further would give them even more evidence as to what aspects of man-made global warming that have had the most detrimental effects on the planet. 

“Almost all of the damage and mortality caused by hurricanes is done by major hurricanes (category 3 to 5). Increasing the likelihood of having a major hurricane will certainly increase this risk. The study reveals that global warming has increased sea surface temperature in regions where tropical cyclones form. The combination of these warm temperatures along with changes in atmospheric conditions, have allowed storms to more easily reach higher intensities,” Kossin said.

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Within the past few years specifically, Kossin and his team have been noticing these trends more in the Northern Indian Ocean, but he believes that’s mostly because data collection in that part of the world isn’t as advanced for this type of research, so the disaster occurrences seem much more random when they’re not. This study in particular neglected to include the past two years as well, which Kossin also knows could have skewed the data. 

The research also concluded that global cyclones should be the planet’s top concern for future natural disasters, as they’ve shown the most evidence for growing in intensity as a direct result of global warming. This is due to our ocean temperatures increasing, which results in stronger hurricanes to build out in the middle of the ocean and grow even larger before they hit land. 

“Here, the authors apply an objective technique on four decades of satellite data to create a consistent record of global tropical cyclone intensity, their results are consistent with the theory that increasing sea-surface temperatures are indeed increasing the intensity (but not frequency) of the strongest storms of at least major hurricane strength,” said Ryan Maue, a private industry meteorologist not involved in the recent research.

There are a multitude of natural reasons why these natural disasters have also increased in intensity, however, the evidence is clear. If we want a shot at a more healthy planet in the future, it’s up to us and our world leaders to fix all the damage we’ve caused.