The effect of different extreme weather events on attitudes toward climate change

important policy implications. We briefly consider the implications of these findings and sug- gest steps for future study in the following section. Conclusions As the global climate continues to change, some types of extreme weather events are expected to become more prevalent and severe. Although understanding how these events influence support for climate policy is, therefore, an increasingly important question, the literature remains unsettled about whether extreme weather can influence climate attitudes. We aim to advance this literature by evaluating the effect of an array of common disaster types using a dynamic DiD approach. Notably, we find that exposure to a flood, hurricane, or severe storm does not significantly change beliefs about the seriousness of climate change or impact the desire to take policy action to address the issue. However, exposure to a fire does increase sup- port for climate efforts. This effect disappears one year after first exposure, indicating it is not a long-lasting effect. There are several limitations to our study that are important to consider. For one, our data is limited to a period between 2010–2014. While we recognize that it would be ideal to have more recent data, we believe there are several advantages to examining the impact of extreme weather events on public opinion during this time period. For one, it offers insights prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have shifted priorities and the relative impact of weather events. This data is also prior to the Trump Administration, which significantly rolled

back many existing measures to address climate change and may have created a kind of back- lash effect. Finally, it’s important to recall that extreme weather events are anticipated to become more frequent and severe as climate change progresses. Understanding how extreme weather events may have influenced climate attitudes prior to such environmental and politi- cal changes could be particularly useful when compared with more recent data, thereby offer- ing insights into how extreme weather events influence attitudes amidst other pressing developments and when extreme weather is a more common occurrence. Another data limita- tion is that our measurement of climate opinion is double-barrelled, making it difficult to determine the extent to which the respondents in our sample were expressing higher levels of concern due to fire exposure, stronger beliefs about taking action to address the issue, or both. Future studies should aim to untangle such opinions. However, we also believe this study has several key implications. First, we demonstrate that not all extreme weather events have the same impact. Therefore, it may be important for schol- ars to more fully consider the impact of a range of disasters associated with climate change. Our results suggest that fires, in particular, may be an important area for future study. Com- munities could be exposed to a range of different and more catastrophic weather events in the coming decades. Exploring the causal mechanisms behind such effects continues to be an

important area for future study to understand when and how extreme weather events could influence the policy-making process. Questions to consider might include whether the impact of one or more types of extreme weather events are the same in a variety of political contexts, and why the effect of extreme weather like a fire might disappear over time, and what makes an effect more or less long-lasting. As climate change continues, it may also be helpful to distinguish between support for miti- gation (attempting to prevent future effects of climate change) compared to adaptation (adjust- ing to current and future trends). Increasing wildfire risks have prompted many locales to turn to adaptation measures like power shutoffs to protect public welfare [44, 45]. To avoid such power shutoffs, residents may be more inclined to adopt clean energy options like solar power [46]. Learning from previous studies, it will be important to account for factors like motivated PLOS ONE Extreme weather events and attitudes toward climate change PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300967 May 15, 2024 7 / 10