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Extreme weather was more frequent in recent years

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is it a sign that global warming is gaining pace and exceeding predictions?

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Now, has extreme weather been more frequent

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in recent years? The evidence is definitely to the contrary.

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The United States has always had extreme weather. We look back on our

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weather history. It's been punishing:  floods, droughts

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tornadoes, hurricanes, great forest fires –

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Is global warming happening? No doubt about it.

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We're living in a warmer world, we're living in a melting world, sea levels are rising.

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Now, direct evidence of the footprint

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or the fingerprint of global warming: we're seeing more frequent,

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more intense, and longer lasting heat waves.

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As far as hurricanes, tornadoes,

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forest fires, floods, and drought, the evidence is definitely not in.

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The consensus among almost all scientists

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is that it's a small fingerprint, not a large footprint.

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But what is true is that

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in this country, in the United States, we live in many areas

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with great risk to drought, to tornadoes,

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to hurricanes, and so part of the dialogue is not only

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extreme weather and global warming,

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but is the amount of risk we can tolerate. Now looking to the future,

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global change, global warming –

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it definitely is accelerating and it will have an impact

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on extreme weather, but at this point, not much.

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