Oct 5, 2021 - News

Mapped: Minnesota's major weather-related disasters

Data: FEMA; Map: Jared Whalen/Axios

Minnesota is so far better off than most of the country when it comes to weathering climate-related disasters, but we're not immune from the effects of increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

Why it matters: Some regions of the U.S. are safer from climate-fueled extreme weather events than others, but no region will be untouched, Axios' Ben German wrote in a recent "Deep Dive" on climate change.

Zoom out: The map above shows major disasters declared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the past two decades — a snapshot that ranges from hurricanes and severe storms to wildfires and drought.

Zoom in: Below, check out a county-by-county look at the weather disasters over the past two decades here in Minnesota.

What to watch: Will our relatively mild threat of extreme weather compared to other parts of the country make us a hot spot people looking to move from harder-hit regions?

  • Duluth, for example, is seeing some anecdotal evidence that "climate migrants" are moving to the area to escape more extreme weather elsewhere, MPR News reports.
Data: FEMA; Map: Jared Whalen/Axios
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