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 >
Extreme Weather
I believe that with the increase in carbon foot prints the weather gets more extreme. There are more storms and fires than past years. Reducing the carbon footprints of humanity is key to preventing the weather from getting even more extreme.
I believe the increase in temperature(resulting from the increase of carbon footprints) is the chief cause in the increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. With global warming and ocean heat accumulation, tropical hurricanes of greater intensity are more likely to form, resulting in more destruction than previous hurricanes. Hurricane Irma and Maria are two great demonstrations of the increase in the frequency/intensity of tropical hurricanes: it is rare to see two deadly degree 5 hurricanes occur within a span of two weeks. Another important thing to note is that an increase in extreme weather events has great effects on precipitation, depriving drought regions of water and overwhelming wet regions with record rainfall; thus, to combat this effect, it is important to establish water collection/flood prevention technologies, especially in urban settings that lacks a sufficient storm management system.