..."It's the everyday hazards, such as severe weather (click title to entry - thank you) -- both in the winter and the summer -- and heat that account for the majority of natural hazard fatalities; it's not the big wham-o event like an earthquake or a Katrina that contribute to the long-term pattern," said lead researcher Susan Cutter, director of the university's Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute....
...Heat/drought (click here) ranked highest among the hazard categories, causing 19.6 percent of total deaths, closely followed by severe summer weather (18.8 percent) and winter weather (18.1 percent). Geophysical events such as earthquakes, wildfires and hurricanes were responsible for less than 5 percent of total hazard deaths combined....
12.18.2008
8:18 AM
2007 U.S. Weather Extremes
Drought, Flood, Wildfires, Hurricanes... (click here)
...The contiguous United States is on pace to reach its 8th hottest year on record in 2007. Here are some of the weather extremes and their impacts recorded this year:
-$1 billion in crop damage was sustained when exceptional late March warmth led to early maturation of plants that were killed when a record April cold snap hit a large portion of the country, from the central Plains to the Southeast.
-More than 2,500 new daily record high temperature records were set in August across the central and southeastern United States.
-Severe to exceptional drought affected most of the Southeast that has continued from midsummer to date, affecting crops, leading to water sharing tension and ongoing water use restrictions. Drought also affected the West, parts of the upper Midwest and parts of the Northeast. Five southeastern states, two Western states and three mid-Atlantic and New England states declared states of emergency due to drought....
