Climate shifts. Weather stations measure it. Federal databases absorb it. Consensus standards reference it. Model codes adopt it. States enforce it. Each link adds years. Over half of U.S. states still enforce codes based on the 2018 edition or older, calibrated to conditions already gone.
A roofer in south Texas installs shingles rated to ASCE 7-16 wind speeds while the 2022 edition shows coastal speeds jumped roughly 10 mph. A plumber sizes drainage to NOAA Atlas 14 rainfall estimates that, in parts of Texas, relied on data last updated in 1961. The gap between what the code requires and what the sky delivers is widening faster than any update cycle can close.
A 2024 National Institute of Building Sciences panel made the legal stakes plain: code compliance alone does not satisfy reasonable care. Courts increasingly expect builders to account for foreseeable climate conditions, not just the ones printed in the code book. Who bears responsibility when a code-compliant building fails under conditions the code never anticipated? Nobody has a settled answer. Somebody will.