By Gordon Williams, Volunteer  

The impact of climate change on everyday life becomes more visible and more concerning each year. To cite one example, the seasonal pattern of warm summers and chilly winters seems to be undergoing a fundamental change. Summers are longer and hotter, winters shorter and milder and both seasons are now wetter.   

How dramatic is the change? A 2021 study published in the Geophysical Research Letters scholarly journal says that by 2100 summers will last seven months, with winters shrinking to just two months.  The impact of such a dramatic change in seasons figures to be profound — bringing more devastating storms, more destructive floods and fires, more deadly heat waves, more weather-related disasters of every type.

That’s especially worrisome for the American Red Cross, whose mission is to respond and assist disaster victims around the world.  

To put things into perspective, we talked to Ted Buehner, who is both a meteorologist and a public affairs specialist with the Red Cross Northwest Region (Washington and north Idaho). Buehner points out that the world is already witnessing more heat waves than ever before.

“Extreme heat is the world’s number one weather-related killer, with more loss of life than all other hazardous weather events combined,” he says.  

We may think of heat as being uncomfortable, but not a killer. But it does kill outright, as Buehner notes about the 2021 heat dome that shattered temperature records throughout the Pacific Northwest. This extreme heat event caused significant health impacts, including over 250 deaths in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

Longer summers will further extend a wildfire season that already destroys millions of acres of forest land each year, filling the air with clouds of toxic smoke.

Buehner reminds us that wildfire smoke has blanketed the Puget Sound region for six of the past eight summers. Smoke from Canadian wildfires routinely poisons the air as far south as Washington DC. As summer stretches out, he further notes that the pollen season will also last longer — bad news for anyone who suffers from seasonal allergies.  

And there's still more to consider.

Wildfires scorch the soil, burning up much of the vegetable material that holds soil in place. That leaves behind what are called “burn scars.” It doesn't take much rain for these burn scars to turn into mudslides. The wildfires that swept the Los Angeles area last winter triggered an epidemic of mudslides.  The obvious question for the Red Cross is how to bulk up to respond to the new climate reality. 

“In recent decades, there have been more costly, or what are called million-dollar disasters, for the Red Cross to respond to, that impact more people. This trend in major disasters is quite likely to continue to grow, says Brad Kieserman, Vice President of Disaster Operations and Logistics at the American Red Cross. "For the Red Cross, more volunteers and resources will be needed to respond to this growing number of disasters.”  No matter how much the Red Cross beefs up to handle the new climate reality, it obviously can't do the whole job.

Property owners must do their part — partnering with Red Cross by joining in disaster avoidance and disaster response efforts. You can learn what disaster response programs are available in your area from police, fire and other agencies.   

Safeguard your own property by planting fire resistant trees and thinning out vegetation so fire doesn't spread. Clear out lower branches to slow the spread of fire and clear debris away from anything that can burn. Learn what to do on red flag days when high winds and low humidity raise the danger of fire.

Most importantly, support the efforts of the Red Cross to stand as a blocking force against this newest manifestation of climate change.   

Information on wildfire safety can be found at: redcross.org/nwwildfire and volunteering at: redcross.org/volunteer.