Report · Apr 17, 2018
Climate Change in the American Mind: March 2018
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Connie Roser-Renouf, Seth Rosenthal, Matthew Cutler and John Kotcher
Filed under: Beliefs & Attitudes
7. Global Warming and Severe Weather
7.1. Six in ten Americans think global warming is affecting weather in the United States.
As reported in the previous section, about six in ten Americans (61%) think global warming is a “severe weather issue.” Similarly, 61% of Americans think global warming is affecting weather in the United States, including more than half (54%) who either think global warming is affecting U.S. weather “a lot” (29%) or “some” (25%).
The percentage of Americans who think global warming is affecting weather “a lot” has decreased by four percentage points since October 2017. This is the second-highest level since 2013, below only the October 2017 survey (which was conducted after a summer that included severe hurricanes, wildfires, and other extreme weather events).
7.2. A majority of Americans are worried about harm from extreme events in their local area.
A majority of Americans are at least “a little worried” about extreme events in their local areas, including extreme heat (64%), droughts (61%), flooding (60%), and/or water shortages (52%). Fewer are worried about wildfires (42%), hurricanes (38%), and/or reduced snow pack (31%).
