We Have to Get Ready for More Extreme Weather

Sometimes, I feel like all I do is repeat myself.

I know I harp quite a lot about getting ready for extreme weather. I know that the whole “beating a dead horse” analogy come to mind when you read yet again a newspaper column or blog that I’ve written about how the weather is getting wilder and that we need to get ready for what’s coming.

Well, I’ve written another one. As I write these words, Oklahoma is currently in the process of thawing out from quite a cold snap. It wasn’t as bad and it didn’t last as long as the record breaking “arctic express” we experienced in 2021 but it was bad enough. According to the forecast this morning (Jan. 21), we could have one more round of winter weather tonight with the possibility of freezing rain followed by a gradual warm-up with highs next week reaching the low 60’s.

Up and down and up and down. As I have said many times, variability in weather is nothing new. It’s just that with the changes we are seeing in the climate, what we’ve always considered to be weather “outliers” - temperature extremes or rain or snow events that are greater than what you’d normally expect - are slowly (or not so slowly) becoming the new normal. Actually, there is no new normal.

That’s why we have to be ready for anything. That means “hardening” our farms and ranches to wild weather swings by implementing soil health practices that both control erosion while also increasing the soil’s ability to hold water. It also means taking steps to better prepare our homes for storms, extreme temperatures and droughts by weatherizing them, taking steps to make them less susceptible to wildfire and having backup plans for when the power goes out.

Speaking of power, we need to make sure our utilities, especially our electrical grids, are ready for the strains brought by ice, snow and other storm events. We also need to make sure that they can handle the additional demands that come with both high and low temperatures.

We need to build on ongoing efforts to reduce wildfire danger while also increasing the base flow of our streams and rivers by controlling invasive species like the eastern red cedar. We also need to make sure our fire departments and other emergency management systems have the resources necessary to deal with challenges that will only get worse as the climate continues to change.

In many of these areas, the Federal and various state governments have started to step up, but more needs to be done. We should maintain and build on the resources given to agencies like the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Oklahoma Conservation Commission to help agriculture producers adopt soil health practices and other conservation measures. The dollars allocated to projects like the “Terry Peach North Canadian Watershed Restoration Act” (a measure passed last year in Oklahoma to address the growing menace of eastern red cedar and other invasive species in this priority watershed) should be added too with an eye toward additional state-wide action and some form of incentive for ongoing landowner commitment to controlling invasive species long term.

Infrastructure like levies and dams need to be repaired and improved to help better deal with the increased danger of flash-flooding. Watershed planning, wildlife habitat restoration and water quality land conservation implementation efforts should be increased to help encourage nature-based solutions for issues ranging from flooding to water quality to wildfire fuel load. This can be done while also improving wildlife habitat, improving agriculture profitability and helping fight climate change. We need to invest in our fire departments, our power grid and our water systems.

The list goes on and on. What all this means is that we need to get ready for what’s coming, both through private action and through public efforts. The challenges of extreme weather are only going to increase-we need to increase our efforts to prepare for them.

--- Clay Pope is a natural resource consultant. The opinions expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of his current or former employers. You can read more from Clay and listen to his podcast at southernplainsperspective.wordpress.com.