Flooding after Hurricane Katrina. | © Barry Keim
How is a changing climate reshaping the weather extremes that matter most for people and infrastructure — heavy rainfall, hurricanes, and storm surge? Drawing on more than three decades of research, including his own work on Hurricane Katrina and on global storm-surge records compiled in SURGEDAT, Professor Barry Keim examines what historical climate data reveals — and what it does not — about trends in extreme weather, and what this implies for risk assessment and adaptation.
Barry Keim directs the Environmental Health, Climate, and Sustainability Program at the LSU Health Sciences Center’s School of Public Health, and has served as Louisiana State Climatologist (2003–2023) and previously as New Hampshire State Climatologist (1994–2002). His research focuses on climatic extremes — heavy rainfall, hurricanes, and storm surge — and on the interpretation of climatic data, where he is widely recognized as an expert.
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