"This week we have all witnessed the economic, environmental and emotional devastation intense weather events can bring," Reopelle said. "These floods demonstrate the terrible risks associated with global warming."

By leading to more intense weather events, global warming is predicted to disrupt Wisconsin's tourism and agricultural industries. The recent loss of Lake Delton and massive crop damage associated with this week's flooding highlight these risks.

Two years after James E. Hansen, the leading climate scientist at NASA, and other agency employees described a pattern of distortion and suppression of climate science by political appointees, the agency's inspector general has concluded that such activities occurred and were "inconsistent" with the law that established the space program 50 years ago.

In a 48-page report issued on Monday as a result of a request in 2006 by 14 senators, the internal investigative office said the activities appeared limited to the headquarters press office. No evidence was found showing that officials higher at NASA or in the Bush administration were involved in interfering with the release of climate information, the report said. It also credited Michael Griffin, the agency administrator, for swiftly ordering a review and policy changes when the pattern came to light after articles in The New York Times early in 2006.

But the report, signed by Kevin H. Winters, assistant inspector general for investigations, criticized what it said was a sustained pattern of activities, largely supervised by senior political appointees, that included muting or withholding news releases on global warming and, at least in Dr. Hansen's case, limiting a scientist's interactions with reporters for fear that he might stray into discussing policies at odds with those of the White House.

"Our investigation," the report said, "found that during the fall of 2004 through early 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public."

The report said most evidence supported contentions that politics was "inextricably interwoven" into operations at the public affairs office in that period and that the pattern was inconsistent with the statutory responsibility to communicate findings widely, "especially on a topic that has worldwide scientific interest."