While Pennsylvania is generally aligned with New Jersey and New York in a number of climate-related disasters over the past 20 years, its suburbs, including Delaware County, are not.

As evidenced by the calamity of Hurricane Ida, most of the Philadelphia collar counties have gotten walloped by Mother Nature in her various tantrums. Taylor Allen and Mike D’Onofrio charted the story for AXIOS.

In the last 20 years, Northeast and Southeast Pennsylvania have been vulnerable to heavier storms and flooding.

During that period, Delaware County has faced 5-10 climate-related calamities. Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties fared worse, with 10-15 major weather-related disasters over the same period.

Global warming seems to be the culprit, according to an analysis by Yale Climate Connections (cited by AXIOS).

Higher temperatures increase rates of evaporation from oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. Under the right conditions, when all that water vapor falls, it is increasingly dropping as heavy rain or accumulating snow.

For a while now, many Delaware County residents have suspected there is a “Delco Bubble” a phenomenon that seems to protect the county from more severe weather in the region that hits other areas much harder.

Read more about local climate disasters by county in the AXIOS.

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Here’s a winter snowfall forecast for 2021-2022 by Direct Weather.