The effects of extreme drought on climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and adaptation attitudes J. Stuart Carlton 1,2 & Amber S. Mase 3 & Cody L. Knutson 4 & Maria Carmen Lemos 5 & Tonya Haigh 6 & Dennis P. Todey 7 & Linda S. Prokopy 1 Received: 5 August 2014 /Accepted: 19 November 2015 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract The role of extreme weather events in shaping people’s climate change beliefs and adaptation attitudes has been extensively studied and discussed in academic literature, the popular press, and policy circles. In this manuscript, we contribute to the debate by using data from pre- and post-extreme event surveys to examine the effects of the 2012 Midwestern US drought on agricultural advisors’ climate change beliefs, adaptation attitudes, and risk percep- tions. We found that neither climate change beliefs nor attitudes toward adaptation changed significantly as a result of the drought. Risk perceptions did change, however, with advisors becoming more concerned about risks from drought and pests and less concerned about risks related to flooding and ponding. Though increased risk perceptions were significantly Climatic Change (2016) 135:211–226 DOI 10.1007/s10584-015-1561-5 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10584-015-1561-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * J. Stuart Carlton stuartcarlton@tamu.edu 1 Department of Forestry & Natural Resources, Purdue University, 195 Marsteller St., West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA 2 Present address: Texas Sea Grant College Program, Texas A&M University, PO Box 1675, Galveston, TX 77553, USA 3 Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA 4 National Drought Mitigation Center, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 821 Hardin Hall, Lincoln, NE 6858-0988, USA 5 School of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Michigan, 440 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA 6 National Drought Mitigation Center, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 810 Hardin Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583-0988, USA 7 Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering, South Dakota State University, Box 2120, Brookings, SD 57007, USA / Published online: 27 November 2015