Story Spark: Severe Storms

The document explains how a warming atmosphere and oceans fuel more powerful thunderstorms, leading to stronger straight-line winds and a shift in 'Tornado Alley' toward the Eastern US. It highlights the economic toll, noting that severe weather accounted for 91% of billion-dollar disasters in the US in 2025, and encourages newsrooms to use attribution studies and local data to illustrate these climate connections.

• A warming atmosphere and oceans increase the energy and moisture available for storms, leading to more damaging winds, larger hail, and devastating tornadoes. This has caused a shift in 'Tornado Alley' toward the east, affecting communities that are less prepared for such events.
• Severe storms are the most frequent billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the US, representing over half of all such events since 1980. In 2025, severe weather—including tornado outbreaks and a Northeast wind storm—constituted 91% of the 23 billion-dollar disasters recorded.

APA

Winkley, S. (2026). Story Spark: Severe Storms. Covering Climate Now. https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/covering-severe-storms/

Chicago

Winkley, Shel. Story Spark: Severe Storms. Covering Climate Now, 2026. https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/covering-severe-storms/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Winkley |first1=Shel |title=Story Spark: Severe Storms |publisher=Covering Climate Now |date=10 March 2026 |url=https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/covering-severe-storms/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{winkley2026story, author = {Winkley, Shel}, title = {{Story Spark: Severe Storms}}, institution = {Covering Climate Now}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/covering-severe-storms/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }