Earth’s Extreme Weather: the New Normal?

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Weather: a common ground for small talk, a nuisance as it impacts our life, or a force of nature to be reckoned with.  No matter how you like or don’t like the weather, it’s here, it’s changed, and it’s only going to keep changing.

Locally over the past few years we have seen so many changes in our weather patterns, but this year brought extreme weather in the Northwest USA to a new level as winter just wouldn’t quit.  Just like Britain’s winter storm’s of early 2016, worldwide changes are being seen in the annual patterns of weather as extreme events become normalized.  And in most scientist’s opinions, these high impact events become even more extreme as result of human induced global warming.  Some would even go so far as to say that global warming is the cause.

Climate change has become a huge issue for the world, with the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) issuing reports on their predictions for the future.  The last report came out in 2014/2015, and the next isn’t due until 2020.  While they issued this synthesis report video in 2016, climate continues to morph.  It calls into question whether climate change can be slowed, because it is apparent that it can’t be stopped.

What do you think about climate change?  Have you ever been in an extreme weather event?  Let me know on Facebook or in the comments.