While working through the climate profiles this year, I have gained a nuanced understanding of climate change and how certain climate factors, like increasing air temperatures, will drive most of the major changes we see over the coming years. And while I have spent the last 10 months learning the ins-and-outs of climate change in USFWS Region 1, I strongly believe that climate change should no longer be thought of as a scary concept looming in our subconscious minds, but should be thought of as a serious threat that is already here.

Over the last year, I have been fortunate to travel across Oregon and make numerous trips back to my childhood home in New York. However, just this year alone, I have unfortunately witnessed three historic extreme weather events, in which their severity was undoubtedly exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. In January of this year, we witnessed a rain-on-snow event in Lane County that resulted in all of Eugene and Springfield being frozen solid for a week. The change happened overnight, resulting in thousands of homes losing power, trees falling onto cars and houses, and people being trapped in their homes without time to prepare for such an event. This event was made worse by Pacific Northwest infrastructures not accounting for handling ice sheets two inches thick, resulting in widespread frustration and a sense of hopelessness for the next time an extreme weather event may happen.

Months later in June, I traveled back to New York for a family wedding. However, just a week before the wedding, all of Westchester County was on high-alert due to a severe thunderstorm warning. While the thunderstorm was happening, it quickly evolved into what I believe was a microburst weather event (which can sometimes produce winds as fast as an EF-1 tornado), resulting in a giant tree falling on our home. Luckily no one was hurt, but our entire neighborhood had extreme property damage, including hundreds of fallen trees and powerlines and damaged roads. While no one was injured, witnessing such a severe weather event was one of the scariest moments of my life. Unfortunately with climate change, these events are projected to occur more frequently, with the severity only expected to increase as extreme precipitation, humidity, and air temperatures continue rising over the next few years. Recovery from these events may also take extended periods of time, as some insurance companies are now beginning to refuse or delay home coverage in areas vulnerable to climate change. Witnessing this firsthand is truly devastating. To make matters worse, when visiting New York last week, I found that both my family and other families in the neighborhood are still living in damaged homes, a whole 4 months after the extreme storm occurred.

The direct impact of climate change was especially apparent during my trip to Bend two weeks ago. While driving across the Cascade Mountains at over 4,000 feet in elevation, I saw hundreds of completely burnt trees stretch across the volcanic landscape for miles. The Cascades have been experiencing declines in snowfall for years, and the area is projected to see a decline of more than 4 inches by mid-century. Snow accumulation in the Cascade Range is an essential water supply for many parts of Oregon, especially during the dry season. With the rise of air temperatures over the last few years, especially at higher elevations, more precipitation is falling as rain instead of snow, resulting in a lack of essential snowpack and increasing the length of the dry season. As a result, wildfires have been more extreme across all of Oregon, the effects of which were extremely devastating to witness in such a pristine ecosystem. The consequences of these high-severity wildfires are tragic, often resulting in ecosystem changes, longer periods of time with a poor AQI from smoke, and the death of hundreds of wildlife in impacted areas. In fact, 2024 was Oregon’s worst fire year yet, with approximately 1.9 million acres being burned across the entire state. 

While all of these weather events are indescribably scary and deeply disheartening, I feel like I am in a privileged position to help increase awareness for these changes. Yes, these events are scary, and they have the ability to leave communities and ecosystems destabilized for months and possibly years. However, it is never too late to share what you know with others and try to make a difference where you live. While I understand that climate change is here and is a big beast to tackle all at once, I feel empowered to do what I can to help apply this knowledge to conservation efforts. In addition, I think it is important to try to advocate for yourself and your community by fighting for infrastructure that can make us more resilient when these inevitable weather disasters do occur. If we work together, we can find community and hopefully empower each other to adapt to a world where climate change is impacting us every day, so that we can try to make our planet safer for generations to come.

For more information on some of the data I referenced in this blog, you can visit the following websites:

• https://www.npr.org/2023/07/22/1186540332/how-climate-change-could-cause-a-home-insurance-meltdown 
• https://www.koin.com/news/wildfires/oregon-2024-fire-season-over-10282024/ 
• https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/2024-03-18/research-shows-that-diminishing-snowpack-increases-wildfire-risk 
• https://www.weather.gov/bmx/outreach_microbursts#:~:text=A%20microburst%20is%20a%20localized,%2C%20can%20be%20life%2Dthreatening.