Severe storms, rising temperatures: Climate change felt in KC area, experts say
Rising temperatures, more intense storms, and possible droughts mark the changing climate across the globe, including in both Kansas and Missouri, according to some climate experts.
This week, Wednesday night storms that persisted until Thursday morning brought between 7 and 11 inches of rain to parts of the Kansas City metro. The flooding in Wyandotte County was called the worst seen since 1993, the Unified Government said in a press release.
Across the metro, dozens of water rescues kept emergency crews busy. Kansas City doubled its own record for daily rainfall Wednesday with 2.78 inches, surpassing the previous record of 1.35 inches set in 1968, according to the National Weather Service.
Some climate experts say it’s all a sign of climate change.
Climate change refers to the long-term shifts in weather patterns and temperatures as a result of human activity releasing carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing heat to stay trapped on Earth more easily, according to the United Nations.
As atmospheric temperatures rise, ice from the polar caps melts, meaning less sunlight will reflect off the white surface and be absorbed by the Earth’s oceans and ground. This positive feedback cycle is called the greenhouse effect.
“It does not really only have an impact on the polar bears, for example, right? It’s happening in our backyard,” said Fengpeng Sun, PhD, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.
NOAA predictions
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, since the beginning of the 20th century, temperatures in Missouri have risen by almost 1 degree, and by 1.5 degrees in Kansas. In terms of multi-year periods, this period is comparable to the extreme heat of the Dust Bowl era from the 1930s, according to NOAA.
If high carbon emissions continue without mitigation, historically unprecedented high temperatures are predicted, NOAA officials predict. Even with mitigation, temperatures are likely to exceed record levels by 2050, according to NOAA.
Missouri is experiencing an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events, meaning an increase in frequency and intensity of downstream flooding along rivers and streams from the lower river basins of several large midwestern rivers, said a Missouri climate summary by NOAA.
In Kansas, the frequency of extreme precipitation is highly variable, but a general increase is predicted, and, in the eastern part of the state, increases in extreme precipitation are more pronounced, according to a Kansas climate summary by NOAA.
Increases in soil evaporation rates attributed to higher temperatures can lead to an increase in naturally occurring droughts during dry spells in both Kansas and Missouri, NOAA also states.
More frequent disasters
From 1980 to 2024, the annual average of weather or climate disaster events, which include flooding, severe weather, tornadoes, hail, droughts, heat waves, tropical cyclones, winter storms and wildfires, in Missouri was 2.7 per year.
But from 2020 to 2024, the average skyrocketed to 8.2 per year in Missouri, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Information, a government agency that monitors U.S. and global climates and archives atmospheric, coastal, geophysical and oceanic data.
Out of 120 of these events spanning 44 years, 41 of them took place in the last four years of the study.
In Kansas, the annual average of weather or climate disaster events from 1980 to 2024 was 2.3 per year, while from 2020 to 2024, the average climbed to 5.6 events per year.
Out of the 102 weather or climate events in Kansas, 24 took place in the last four years of the study.
Think globally, plan locally, act individually
There’s no sure way experts can predict the future, but they know that actions taken now can make an impact, said Sun.
His research is finding ways to address human activity that adds to the impacts of climate change.
The use of darker construction materials, like asphalt and concrete, causes heat to be absorbed into the ground rather than reflected, making urban neighborhoods typically hotter, while areas with green spaces have trees to reflect the heat, making them cooler overall .
Although planting trees is a good way to mitigate climate change impact, his research found that simply using lighter colored material, like white paint on rooftops, can reduce local temperatures by more than 10°F almost immediately, whereas trees can take years to mature.
“What we can do right now, actually determines what our future might be,” said Sun. “You might think one person does not really do anything, right? But I think that you need to do something.”
Ways that everybody can participate in making a difference, he said, include making active choices in their everyday lives and staying educated.
Climate change mitigation can be done on an individual level with lifestyle changes such as saving energy and taking public transportation when possible, said Sun.
