Fire and water are seemingly opposing forces. But in the context of global climate, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. And looking at the fire and flood tally so far, 2025 has been extra. … Aridification is causing the arid west to move eastward, encroaching on the mid longitude regions of the U.S. and Canada. Aridity, drought and heat combine to make ideal conditions for fire. Increased average air temperature leads to more water in the atmosphere as water vapor. More energy in the form of heat moves storms. The combination of the two–more water and more energy–means more disasters with higher consequences measured in deaths and dollars. The end result is that communities are sandwiched between dry and wet extremes and the economic consequences of fire and flood disasters. The U.S. sustained 403 weather and climate disasters from 1980–2024 where overall damages and costs reached or exceeded $1 billion each (including the Consumer Price Index adjustment to 2024). When you add them together, the total cost of these 403 events exceeds $2.915 trillion.

Other climate research news:

• Bloomberg: US spending on climate damage nears $1 trillion per year
• Nature Water: Climate science and the case of the missing moisture
• The Guardian (London, U.K.): Climate misinformation turning crisis into catastrophe, report says
• The Hill: Misleading information on climate science delaying action: Report
• NPR: Podcast: This federal program helps track America’s ecosystems. Trump’s budget would gut it