Cities Aren’t Ready for Weather Extremes — No Matter What You Call Them

Soldiers with the Texas Army National Guard wade through rising floodwaters on the streets of Houston on Aug. 28, 2017
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Kevin Dennehy
September 21, 2017

Cities Aren’t Ready for Weather Extremes — No Matter What You Call Them

Note: Yale School of the Environment (YSE) was formerly known as the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). News articles and events posted prior to July 1, 2020 refer to the School’s name at that time.

Xuhui Lee, a professor of meteorology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, says that it’s difficult to link climate change to two recent hurricanes that devastated parts of the U.S. and the Caribbean. But decades of scientific research do suggest that weather extremes such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma will become more common — and cities will pay a steep price.

As a biometeorologist and director of the Yale Center for Earth Observation, Yale Professor Xuhui Lee knows that climate change will trigger an increase in extreme weather events. And with an expertise in how extreme heat and heavy rain events in particular will affect urban centers, he understands that cities will pay a steep price.

In a new interview, Lee, the Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Meteorology at F&ES, says that it’s difficult to link climate change to two recent hurricanes that devastated parts of the U.S. and the Caribbean. But decades of scientific research do suggest that weather extremes such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma will become more common.

And most cities in the U.S., indeed worldwide, simply aren’t built to withstand such weather calamities. Last year, Lee helped create a course at F&ES, “Cities in Hot Water: Urban Climate Mitigation and Adaptation,” which enabled students to assess the biophysical threats and social impacts of climate change in New Haven — and make policy recommendations to city planners and administrators.  

“Regardless of whether or not hurricanes are tied to climate change, the fact is we’re going to have more climate extremes,” he said. “And society is not good at coping with extremes.”

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