NEW ORLEANS — Last year’s extreme weather across the U.S. – 2011 was the most expensive year ever for natural disasters – is raising concern among scientists and policy-makers about the nation’s ability to withstand a shifting climate.

Damage from tornadoes, floods, droughts, hurricanes and wildfires caused more than $200 billion in losses and 1,000 deaths across the nation last year. Florida escaped major damage, but saw record high temperatures over the summer, after a much colder than normal winter.

The conversation about climate change has to move beyond debates about greenhouse gases to discussions about making homes and infrastructure more resilient to weather, said Margaret Davidson, director of the Coastal Services Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Communities across the nation need to reduce their vulnerability, she said during a forum on adapting to climate change at the American Meteorological Society meeting here.

Recent trends show the cost of natural disasters escalating while the government’s financial ability to deal with those losses shrinks. Climate scientists anticipate an uptick in extreme weather as the global climate warms.

‘You can see there’s a train wreck coming and it has to do with Mother Nature,’ Davidson said.

In communities where disasters, such as floods and storm […]