Weather Swings

One may say that the weather over the past few has weird. Yes that is right; it is called “weather weirding.” We have been jumping from warm, hot to extremely hot. Last summer was above the record and nearly drove people out of their o home towns eg: Austin Texas.  March has yet to be another example of the weird weather months. Last week, much of the nation was experiencing heat; pools and beaches drew crowds, some farmers planted their crops, and trees burst into bloom while flowers showed their beauty. This weather has truly been challenging. However, transferring from one weather extreme to another seems to have become routine across the Northern Hemisphere. Parts of the United States may be shivering now, but Scotland is setting heat records. Across Europe, people died by the hundreds during a severe cold wave in the first half of February. The question is: do scientists know what is going on? While this question cannot be answered now, researchers are developing theories that if they have any luck, this change of weather should be tied to global warming. To be specific, suspicion is focused these days on the drastic decline of sea ice in the Arctic, which is believed to be a direct consequence of the human release of greenhouse gases.

As the planet warms, many scientists say, more energy and water vapor are entering the atmosphere and driving weather systems. A report released on Wednesday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations body that issues periodic updates on climate science, confirmed that a strong body of evidence links global warming to an increase in heat waves, a rise in episodes of heavy rainfall and other precipitation, and more frequent coastal flooding. United States government scientists recently reported that February was the 324th consecutive month in which global temperatures exceeded their long-term average for a given month; the last month with below-average temperatures was February 1985. This year, the United States has set 17 new daily highs for every new daily low, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times by Climate Central, a research group in New Jersey.