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 >
The Recent Weather has been Crazy
This past year the weather in the Bay area has been quite unusual. In the month of April, we have had warm days, cold days and scattered showers. There is not much consistency to our weather lately. We had large storms in the winter, they were larger than we normally get during the winter. In the East and West part of the country in early January was record-breaking cold. According to weather.com for the first seven days of the year, New York surpassed the previous record of 21.4 degrees and replacing it with an astonishing 16.4 degrees. There is also an increase in temperature in the west. The average temperature of Long Beach during the month of January was 62.4 degrees, Long Beach had never been that warm during January. The recent weather pattern is very odd and is due because of climate change.
I completely agree. In January there were very warm temperatures in places are over the world, but in New England the temperatures were extremely cold. This has to do with the Gulf Stream and the Jet Stream pushing cold air and water towards New England.
We have same problem in Croatia, this year a snow started falling at the end of January till almost end of March, temperatures were really low, our school was also canceled due to a lot snow which never happened in last 10 years. Now it's end of April and today's temperature was 29 degrees.
You are right Tyler. Climate change has had a big impact on the weather today. I think the most important gases that are changing the climate is methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is a common fuel source, which is causing a change in the climate. Carbon dioxide is having a big impact on the weather today too. The greenhouse gas is making infrared radiation which is then turned into heat energy. These both are emitting and changing the temperature of earth's surface.