Editor's note: This article contains brief mentions of domestic assault, abuse, or other related topics. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please visit RAINN.org. The National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) is available 24/7.
Extreme weather is a multifaceted problem with innumerable unexpected side effects, as a new study in the Journal of Development Economics demonstrated.
What's happening?
According to the National Weather Service, one form of extreme weather is extreme cold, the threshold for which varies based on local climate.
As the Québécois climate consultancy Ouranos noted, extreme cold's impacts go beyond direct risks to humans and animals, taking an immense toll on infrastructure and crop yields.
For the study, researchers looked at extreme cold's influence on intimate partner violence, which the authors warned was a "health concern for women" on a global scale.
The authors pinpointed "cold shocks," a sudden and extreme fluctuation in outdoor temperatures, to see if abnormally cold weather correlated with domestic violence in Peru.
They found that 10 "degree hours" — a metric common in climate science and meteorology — of weather minus 9 degrees Celsius (15.8 degrees Fahrenheit) increased the risk of intimate partner violence by 0.5%.
Moreover, the authors observed "larger effects" during "more extreme temperature thresholds."
Why is this concerning?
Extreme weather is increasingly prevalent globally, and its impacts are wide-ranging.
A bout of extreme cold and anomalously broad winter weather struck much of the United States in February, leaving a swath of states blanketed in feet of snow.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 Direct impacts of extreme weather tend to generate headlines, making the less visible impacts of this phenomenon harder to recognize. This is particularly the case for the deadliest form of extreme weather: extreme heat.
While extreme cold and extreme heat are both extremely dangerous, extreme heat is a "silent killer," according to the World Economic Forum, and it kills more people than "floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires combined" every year.
The study highlighted one of the least visible impacts of extreme weather, an increase in domestic violence, and delved into its mechanisms.
Economist Leah Lakdawala co-authored the study, and she wrote on Phys.org that the researchers went in knowing that extreme cold kept people indoors and necessarily reduced the study subjects' income.
"There can be bad circumstances when you're trapped inside with someone who could be potentially dangerous and who is — on top of that — under a lot of financial stress," she began, adding that the study's findings weren't likely limited to Peru.
"There are plenty of agricultural communities worldwide, not just in Peru, even in the United States, that suffer the consequences when it gets very cold."
What's being done about it?
At the study's conclusion, the authors recommended mitigation programs that accounted for income loss due to extreme cold, such as a safety net.
"It ensures they can cover basic necessities like food and rent, so they aren't in a place of pure despair when the crops die," Lakdawala said.
"One of the silver linings is that this is an addressable problem through policy."
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