How does the American public perceive climate disasters?

Based on 2018 and 2019 survey data, the study finds that 64% of Americans believe global warming affects U.S. weather. Risk perceptions are heavily influenced by local geography, with residents in the West fearing droughts and wildfires, those in the Midwest fearing flooding, and those in the East and Southeast fearing hurricanes. While 56% of Americans view extreme weather as a high or moderate risk to their community over the next decade, the specific concerns vary by state, often reflecting local experiences with 'Billion Dollar Disaster Events'.

• Approximately 64% of Americans believe that global warming is affecting weather in the United States, with 32% stating it affects it 'a lot', 25% 'some', and 7% 'a little'.
• Public risk perceptions of extreme weather are strongly tied to geographic region: residents in the Midwest are most concerned with flooding, those in the East and Southeast with hurricanes, and those in southern and western states with heat-related events such as wildfires, droughts, and water shortages.
• Specific state-level data shows high concentrations of concern: 85% of California respondents are most worried about droughts, 76% of North Carolina respondents about hurricanes, and 96% of Floridians about hurricanes.
• A majority of Americans (56%) perceive extreme weather as posing a 'High' or 'Moderate risk' to their community over the next 10 years, while 37% perceive it as a 'Low' (31%) or 'No' (7%) risk.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2020). How does the American public perceive climate disasters? https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/how-does-the-american-public-perceive-climate-disasters/

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. How does the American public perceive climate disasters? 2020. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/how-does-the-american-public-perceive-climate-disasters/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=How does the American public perceive climate disasters? |date=24 August 2020 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/how-does-the-american-public-perceive-climate-disasters/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2020how, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{How does the American public perceive climate disasters?}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/how-does-the-american-public-perceive-climate-disasters/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }