Climate change: From Montana to Texas to Puerto Rico, it was a year of disasters

On Sept. 12, 15.7 million people watched the hour-long special “Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief Telethon.” By the end of the telethon, celebrities and others had donated a total of $44 million.

The telethon was a success, but it was not near enough to pay for the mass destruction — and it certainly was not enough to finance the other natural disasters of 2017.

Weather and climate disasters cost the nation a record $306 billion in 2017, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The main contributions to this record-breaking fact include western wildfires and hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.  
 
Reuters, an international news agency, said the previous record was $215 billion in 2005: The year of hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita.

Not only was our financial situation record-breaking, but so was our temperature.

On Thursday, Jan. 18, scientists at NASA declared 2017 the second warmest year on record.

The warmest year was 2016, however the year did contain an El Nino whereas 2017 did not. El Nino is an event that may occur in the Pacific Ocean near the equator where the water is hotter than usual and affects the atmosphere and weather around the world.

In fact, 2017 was projected to be much cooler than 2016 because of La Niña, which does the opposite of El Niño. It occurs in the same region, but it cools the area instead of making it hotter.

What else happened in 2017 to cost the nation such a large amount of money?

Rice Ridge wildfire near Seeley blows up

On Aug. 25, Hurricane Harvey struck Texas, killing 82 people and dumping 27 trillion gallons of rain over the state. It is considered to be one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit Texas in 50 years, costing the nation between $70 billion and $180 billion depending on the news source.

Category 5 storm, Hurricane Irma, devastated 50 percent of Florida’s annual orange crops and was considered to be one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a decade. The cost is projected to be between $25 billion and $65 billion.

Sept. 20 was the dawn of Hurricane Maria. After three months have passed, a third of Puerto Rico is still without power and the death toll has reached 64 individuals, according to Business Insider. Weather Underground has estimated the cost will reach about $102 billion.

California wildfires not only cost the nation at least $3 billion in repairs but also the lives of 42 individuals, according to California Department of Insurance on Oct. 31st.

These are just a few of the natural disasters to affect America in 2017.

In Montana, we certainly are not immune to these types of crises.

By Sept. 8th, Montana’s fire season cost was projected to be around reach $144 million, according to a previous article in the Great Falls Tribune. The paper also stated that more than one million acres throughout the state had been burned. That’s larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Montana's million-acre burn: All you need to know about the fire season

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 53 out of 56 counties in the state were declared either primary or contiguous disaster areas. Thousands were affected by evacuations and thousands more were battling the flames, according to the New York Times. Two firefighters lost their lives.
            
Glacier National Park also suffered from fires during “one of the worst fire seasons,” Gov. Steve Bullock told the New York Times.

The western section of Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed because of wildfires. Glacier’s Sperry Chalet — a historical landmark built in 1913 — was lost in the Sprague Fire on Aug. 31.

“The period from June to August was the hottest and driest on record in Montana, and our fire season started about a month earlier than it usually does,” said Angela Wells, fire information officer with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservations.

High school athletes in northcentral Montana were indirectly affected by the wildfires because of the amount of smoke that swept through the air.

Student-athletes at Charles M. Russell High School shared their experiences during their sports seasons.

“(The smoke) made practicing really difficult, especially when we had Results (a physical conditioning regimen the team undergoes). We almost got to the point where we had to wear masks, and it got so bad, we moved a lot of practices indoors,” said Emily Funseth, a sophomore varsity soccer player.

“It certainly made it hard to run," said Braden Younkin, a track and cross country runner at CMR. "It affected our breathing quite a bit and made it difficult to run, but otherwise it was OK,” he said.

Other sports cut their practices short, according to football player Wesley Tilleman. 

Although climate change is not the direct cause of these wildfires, scientists have found that human-caused climate change is increasing the frequency and size of them, according to Fact Check. This is true mainly in the forested areas like Montana and Northern California.

It is difficult to determine what part climate change plays in these natural disasters, but there is no denying it has made a significant impact. 

Grace Carr is a sophomore at C.M. Russell High and a member of the Tribune's Teen Panel.