Extreme cold is a billion-dollar problem, tooBy Mark Gongloff / Bloomberg OpinionIf you are a climate-change denier in the eastern US, including the president, then the past few weeks have been a dream. Unfortunately, extreme spells of winter weather can still happen in an atmosphere made more chaotic by rising heat. That a record-smashing summer heat wave is happening in Australia at the same time that a brutal winter cold is punishing the eastern US illustrates the point. Sometimes the events inflict terrible death tolls and financial costs, as did 1993’s Storm of the Century and 2021’s winter storm Uri. Deaths from cold weather might decrease as the planet warms, but not disappear, while deaths from hot weather increase.

Source: Taipei Times February 09, 2026 17:27 UTC