Americans Prefer Weather Changes Brought Over By Global Warming, Study Reveals

Americans do not think global warming is a major threat, according to a new study. On the contrary, the citizens of the U.S. feel that climate change has made the weather more pleasant for them, an opinion which is not shared by scientists and the rest of the world.

A study published in the Nature journal states that Americans' perception of global warming will soon be outweighed when they start experiencing more oppressive summer heat along with the milder winters they are enjoying at the moment. "Americans are getting the wrong signal from year-round weather about whether they should be concerned about climate change," said author Patrick Egan, study lead author from New York University (NYU). "They're getting the good parts and haven't had to pay the price of the bad part."

However, if heat-trapping gases are not controlled, then approximately nine out of 10 Americans will experience worse weather during summers by the end of the century. Based on past studies that looked into choices of living areas, employment, relocation and other factors, Egan and his colleague created a weather preference index for Americans. The goal of the research was to find out why Americans were so reluctant to address the problem of climate change.

According to the research, it was found out that the average person in the U.S. prefers warm winters and summers that are less hot and humid. Phoenix, San Diego and Miami emerged on the top of the new index and the lowest positions were taken by Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Based on the finding, it was observed that the weather in the U.S. had trended closer to Miami than Pittsburgh, which meant that the daily weather had gotten closer to their preferences. Climate scientist Michael Mann feels this phenomenon may have made Americans complacent and nonchalant towards the effects of climate change.

A report in Wall Street Journal suggests that the study was met with criticisms as many scientists feel that the considering factors, such as, where people choose to live, are not good indicators of what weather they prefer, making it a flawed theory. The research also doesn't deal with extreme weather conditions, according to opponents of the study findings. Meanwhile, Egan and his colleague feel that scientists should talk more about the extreme weather than average temperatures, according to the report.