Extreme weather is a growing concern across the country, but exposure to it has increased for people who live in the West.
A new Gallup poll shows 37% of adults in the U.S. say they’ve been personally impacted by an extreme weather event during the past two years. That number jumps to 43% among people who live in Western states.
Just two years ago, 30% of Western residents said they were affected by an extreme weather event.
The most common weather events in Western states are wildfires and extreme heat, said Gallup Senior Editor Jeff Jones. Flooding and drought were among the other weather events of greatest concern in the West.
No matter the conditions, Jones recommends people be prepared.
“We had about a third of people who had been affected by extreme weather saying they lost power for more than a day,” he said. “That’s a pretty extended amount of time to not have any electricity or water.”
Jones said people who experienced extreme weather also said it disrupted their lives. These disruptions lasted several days to a week on average and can cause economic burdens for people.
“People (were) saying they had to leave the area or evacuate,” he said. “Certainly that’s not too uncommon if a hurricane is barreling down where you live and certainly the wildfires, a lot of people had to evacuate.”
The poll also explored whether there was a link between experiencing extreme weather and attitudes toward climate change.
“One thing that we did find in our poll that was kind of interesting – people who have been the victim of an extreme weather event, they’re more likely to be concerned about climate change,” Jones said.
This was a view that crossed party lines. While other polls show Democrats tend to be more concerned about climate change in general than Republicans, concern about climate change was not tied to political beliefs for those who experienced disruptions in their lives due to extreme weather. The Gallup poll said an average of 41% people worried a great deal about climate change over the past 10 years compared with 32% in the 25 years before that.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
