At a time when the more prominent effects of climate change are garnering a greater attention in everyday life, many Americans are unaware of the less explicit repercussions that these consequences create in communities across the South. In recent years, the U.S. has begun to experience several cold fronts and winter natural disasters in southern states that have had little to no experience with dangerously cold temperatures and their consequences. Such unusual conditions have arisen from the environmental and atmospheric degradation following years of changing climate. While climate change is defined by its association to global warming, these growing/changing conditions are creating many changes across communities that contribute to intensified weather conditions on both ends of the spectrum.

In many southern states—such as Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas—a record number of “once-in-a-lifetime” cold fronts have created increasingly lower record temperatures and greater amounts of snow and ice. Many states lack the resources and preparation to handle these unusual and unpredictable weather patterns. This lack of readiness throws communities into disarray, with powerful winter storms stranding individuals in their homes for several days to weeks. This can eventually lead to a loss of clean water, electricity, and food, and in some cases incur “weather-related deaths” (Betts & McGee 2024).  In February of 2021, a winter storm shut down numerous power grids in Texas, leaving many families without heat and electricity in subzero temperatures across the state. Yet as these repercussions come from the lack of preparedness for a new climate lifestyle that may lie ahead for southern communities all over the U.S., there is still a lingering stigma towards these climate events. While for some this stigma can manifest itself as underestimating the potential that new powerful weather patterns can cause, other doubts can arise from religious conflicts with the idea of severe climate change that has come from human impact. This makes it even more difficult to realize solutions or responses to these modern problems. 

So, what lies ahead as we continue to see the effects that have come out of the changing climate around the world? As warming temperatures continue to act as disruptors towards the polar vortex that influences American weather, colder weather and biting winds are expected to not only become more of a norm but to continue to worsen as cold fronts isolate the south (Climate Disaster Philanthropy). With this outlook, southern state governments and sectors of the federal government must invest more into snow and ice mitigation, as well as greater resources to maintain heating, clean water, and shelters for those displaced in the midst of oncoming cold fronts. Even without proper government intervention, people all over the U.S. can become more vocal about these communities and the damage that climate change is creating by contacting their local government and educating themselves further.