For obvious reasons, human beings have been fascinated and curious about the weather since before recorded history. Whether it’s the temperature, the possibility of rainfall, the level of sunlight, or the speed and directions of the winds, weather shapes human life and has provided structure for the development of societies and economies. But weather is also not a constant, it is a set of changing, cyclical, and at times temperamental patterns that can either facilitate the substance of human life, or can become a threat to lives and property.

The intensifying threat of extreme weather raises a number of important questions, such as whether the federal government and state governments are doing enough to protect citizens from extreme weather, whether emergency services can effectively address the loss experienced by those faced with climate disaster, and whether this increasingly unavoidable evidence of climate chaos will have an impact on the global debate about how to address climate change.

This volume of The Reference Shelf looks at the human contribution to climate change and extreme weather. Climate change has become a hot-button political topic. Powerful political lobbies are trying to resist making changes to lessen the impact of humanity upon the climate, because in doing so reduces their capacity to profit from the harvest and sale of fossil fuels. But, extreme weather is more common now than it was in the past. In the 1980s, there were more than eighty days, on average, between major extreme weather events. A recent study suggested that, in the 2020s, the United States has an extreme weather event that causes more than a billion in damages approximately every ten days.

This volume begins with a preface, clarifying what climate change is, defining what categorizes weather as “extreme,” and societal impacts. The Reference Shelf: Extreme Weather includes essays that fall into five sections:

• Cause and Effects of Extreme Weather • Hurricanes and Tornadoes • Heat and Fire • Rain and Flooding • Ice and Snow

Primary and secondary documents, plus carefully-edited introductory materials help students and researchers navigate through these important topics. The information within The Reference Shelf: Extreme Weather provides balanced coverage, supported by comprehensive background information, on the topics of vital interest in our fast-changing world.

U.S. National Debate Topic, 2025–2026: Exploration & Development of the Arctic	Renewable Energy	Pollution