In the Northern Hemisphere in 2017 and 2018 brought several destructive hurricanes to the shores of North America, the Caribbean, and throughout the Pacific rim. Such extreme weather events are predicted to get more common and more severe with increasing climate change.
Several participating classes in the ISCFC were or are in the path of these storms and we hope for the best for them, their families and communities.
We would love to hear from students affected directly and indirectly by extreme weather events, and also any students who have been following the news this summer.
What are your thoughts about the connection between climate change and extreme weather events? Has this hurricane season increased your concern about climate change or not? Do you think that US citizens and residents (and others in the region) will take climate change more seriously now?
Extreme Weather >
Climate Change and Ocean Levels
After hearing a lot on the news about hurricanes such as Harvey and Irma, many have taken it upon themselves to research about the causes and why it they are happening. Many are claiming that climate change is causing these hurricanes to occur when in reality it is not causing them but simply making them a lot worse. According to "Yes, climate change made Irma Harvey and Irma worse", from CNN, climate change and rising sea levels has had a drastic impact. Hurricanes are known to thrive on warm weather, which is happening because sea levels have risen about seven inches in the past century with temperature increasing one to three degrees Fahrenheit. This combination of rising sea levels, climate change, warmer oceans has caused hurricanes to be significantly more destructive than they would have been in past decades. Although scientists have claimed that human activities have not had a large impact on the hurricane's frequencies, it has been said that global warming will most likely make storms more extreme in the next century.