Current:Home > Contact-usClimate Change Is Driving Deadly Weather Disasters From Arizona To Mumbai-InfoLens
Climate Change Is Driving Deadly Weather Disasters From Arizona To Mumbai
View Date:2024-12-23 11:40:12
Heat waves. Floods. Wildfires. It's been a destructive summer so far, and forecasts for droughts, fires and hurricanes are looking downright bleak.
We know that climate change is to blame. But how exactly is global warming driving dangerous weather?
Lauren Sommer and Rebecca Hersher from NPR's climate team broke down the details in a conversation with Morning Edition's Noel King.
The country is experiencing yet another heat wave this week. Is it just us or is this summer unusual?
It's not just our memories — this past June was the hottest June recorded in the U.S. in more than a century, about four degrees hotter on average. Heat waves (like in the Pacific Northwest) can be deadly, and many cities are just realizing now how underprepared they are to deal with them.
What's the connection between these extreme heat events and climate change?
There's been about two degrees Fahrenheit of warming so far worldwide. The number sounds small, but it's enough to "profoundly shift the statistics of extreme heat events," according to Dr. Radley Horton, a climate scientist at Columbia University. He says these "dangerous thresholds of really high temperature and high humidity" could potentially happen twice as often as they have in the past.
What does this mean for wildfires?
About 95% of the West is in drought right now, and there's a clear cycle where heat dries out land and vegetation. So when 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.
What does a hotter Earth have to do with flash flooding?
It's been a wild few weeks for flash flood disasters, from Central China to western Europe to Mumbai to Arizona. These fast-moving waters have killed hundreds of people, but they're not a surprise to climate scientists, who have been sounding the alarms for years.
Even though these floods happened around their world, their 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. After all, lives are on the line.
This story originally appeared on the Morning Edition live blog.
veryGood! (4111)
Related
- Watch as massive amount of crabs scamper across Australian island: 'It's quite weird'
- Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney has knee procedure; Week 1 availability could be in question
- '100% coral mortality' found at Florida Keys reef due to rising temperatures, restoration group says
- This Congressman-elect swears by (and on) vintage Superman
- Philadelphia mass transit users face fare hikes of more than 20% and possible service cuts
- UPS union calls off strike threat after securing pay raises for workers
- Man charged with hate crimes in Maryland parking dispute killings
- Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets expected to start for Inter Miami Tuesday vs. Atlanta United
- 'We suffered great damage': Fierce California wildfire burns homes, businesses
- Influencer Jackie Miller James Transferred to Neuro Rehab Facility Amid Recovery Journey
Ranking
- Indiana in the top five of the College Football Playoff rankings? You've got to be kidding
- 'Women Talking' is exactly that — and so much more
- Man who tried to hire hit man to kill is wife gets 10 years in prison, prosecutors say
- Connecticut mother arrested after 2-year-old son falls from 3rd story window
- American Idol’s Triston Harper, 16, Expecting a Baby With Wife Paris Reed
- Author Maia Kobabe: Struggling kids told me my book helped them talk to parents
- An ode to cribbage, the game that taught me a new (love) language
- AP PHOTOS: Women’s World Cup highlights
Recommendation
-
AP Top 25: Oregon remains No. 1 as Big Ten grabs 4 of top 5 spots; Georgia, Miami out of top 10
-
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy floats an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden
-
UPS reaches tentative contract with 340,000 unionized workers, potentially dodging calamitous strike
-
Biden honors Emmett Till and his mother with new national monument
-
Whoopi Goldberg Shares Very Relatable Reason She's Remained on The View
-
Police in western Indiana fatally shoot man who pointed gun at them
-
Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets expected to start for Inter Miami Tuesday vs. Atlanta United
-
Israel’s government has passed the first part of its legal overhaul. The law’s ripples are dramatic