Wintertime flooding in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in recent days, which closed roads and stranded drivers, illustrates what scientists are calling “the new normal” when it comes to weather.
A rise in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly since 1970, has warmed the Earth by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800s. According to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, global temperatures have risen faster in the last 50 years than at any point in at least the past 2,000 years. Rising temperature leads to more extreme and unpredictable weather.
From megadrought in the West to more destructive storms in the East, the effects of climate change are becoming clearer than ever. This year alone, the U.S. has experienced 25 weather/climate disaster events with at least $1 billion in damage — the most in recorded history.
Other scientists balk at the idea of accepting these weather trends as normal, urging people to instead treat climate-fueled disasters as a clear sign that we need to reduce emissions before things get worse.
Experts have developed a cadre of new weather-related tools that are being deployed in Pennsylvania, helping communities and industries respond more effectively to extreme weather. Below is a look into some of those technologies and their role in the climate crisis.
Flooding
In September, the National Weather Service (NWS) unveiled the first real-time forecasting service that shows areas likely to experience at least an inch of flooding within the next five days.
The flood inundation mapping service is currently only available to 10% of the U.S. population. Pennsylvania was selected as one of the first areas to roll out the new maps, along with much of eastern Texas and parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. These areas were selected based, in large part, on the potential for flooding and the prevalence of vulnerable populations.
The maps allow people to track water levels in real time and to predict future flooding events, helping communities to prepare, mitigate, and respond to flood impacts. NWS offices are working with county emergency management departments to implement the technology.
“It’s a pretty gigantic leap,” said Charles Ross, a Senior Service Hydrologist for the NWS based in State College.
The technology was developed at the NWS headquarters in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with congressional funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It builds on data that the NWS has been using to issue flood warnings, but now the public has access to interactive maps that go along with those warnings.
The new maps are still in an experimental phase and are not meant to be the sole source of information for decision-making, but the technology will only get more accurate with time.
NWS is looking for public comment on the maps through Sep. 30, 2024. To provide input, click here.
Weather Forecasting for Renewables
A Swiss weather data firm is expanding to the U.S. with a new headquarters in Paxton, PA, helping to improve the efficiency of renewable energy production in Pennsylvania and beyond.
Meteomatics currently provides data for more than 450 companies, including 80% of Europe’s top electricity providers. The Pennsylvania location will collect data to help energy companies manage resources and protect infrastructure from extreme weather. Data also can help predict energy demand and forecast production from renewable sources.
“Solar, wind and hydropower — all of these things are inextricably related to the weather,” Walsh said in an interview with Politico. “Even a 1 percent error in a forecast can trigger millions of dollars in losses. Getting to a better and more precise forecast is worth a lot of money.”
Since Pennsylvania is the nation’s biggest exporter of electricity, advancements in efficiency can translate to improvements on a national scale.
Better forecasting also improves the energy grid’s overall resiliency, according to Walsh.
“This is not going to fix climate change on its own,” he told Politico, “but it helps us become more resilient.”
The Paxton headquarters currently employees five people, with plans to expand over the next several years.
Federal Funding
To help communities across the country prepare for future disasters, Congress passed the Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act in 2022, which includes funding for Pennsylvania.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency chose 483 initial zones across the country based on several factors, such as the expected losses of people, buildings, and agriculture from natural hazards; measures of social vulnerability; and current community resilience.
The zones include 21 census tracts in Pennsylvania, located in Chester, Crawford, Dauphin, Delaware, Jefferson, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Susquehanna counties.
The designation prioritizes access to federal, public and private funding to the “most at-risk and in-need jurisdictions” for resilience and mitigation projects. In Harrisburg, for example, officials plan to use the money to prevent flooding by removing a concrete lining from Paxton Creek and widening the creekbed.
FEMA will add more areas to the list and update it as risks and needs change.
PEC’s Stance
While new tools can help communities prepare for and recover from extreme weather events, states and the federal government must address the root of the problem: human-caused emissions. In the U.S., progress is being made. National emissions fell 12% between 2005 and 2019, with increasing capacities and decreasing costs of low-carbon energy technologies paving the way for further reductions.
PEC has been a longtime advocate for climate action. In 2007, our Climate Change Roadmap helped set the stage for passage of the Pennsylvania Climate Change Act of 2008, which mandated the development of a climate action plan for the state.
Since then, we have continued working with experts and stakeholders to develop substantive policy recommendations for reducing Pennsylvania’s greenhouse gas emissions. Recent headway has been made at the federal level in the form of stricter methane rules and at the state level with renewed efforts to plug orphaned and abandoned wells. Looking to the new year, we hope to see movement on reforming Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards and implementing a more robust Clean Energy Standard that will ensure net-zero power generation by 2050.
Learn more about our policy recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions here.