Climate-Driven Extreme Weather Worsening

Climate Change Is Driving Deadly Weather Disasters From Arizona To Mumbai

Rachel Treisman, July 29, 2021 (National Public Radio)

“…[Forecasts for] droughts, fires and hurricanes are looking downright bleak…But how exactly is global warming driving dangerous weather? …[T]his past June was the hottest June recorded in the U.S. in more than a century, about four degrees hotter on average…There's been about two degrees Fahrenheit of warming so far worldwide…[D]angerous thresholds of high temperature and high humidity] could potentially happen twice as often as they have in the past…[W]hen wildfires do happen, they burn hotter and even create their own weather systems in which huge pyrocumulus clouds can generate lightning strike — in turn causing even more fires…

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…[Flash flood disasters from Central China to western Europe to Mumbai to Arizona] have killed hundreds of people, but they're not a surprise to climate scientists…[T]heir root cause was the same: extreme rain. And it's getting more common as the Earth gets warmer (hot air + hot water = more moisture in the air)…Plus, as the planet heats up, some climate models show winds in the upper atmosphere slowing down in certain places, which would mean that extreme weather would linger there longer…Scientists are working hard to predict how common these disasters will be in the years to come…” click here for more

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