Louisiana Floods And Climate Change Analysis

Samenow (2015) argues that climate change is best regarded as as a drought amplifier rather than the source of the drought itself. He provides instances showing links between drought and climate change. One is that the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, have risen about 25 percent since 1958. Heat-trapping gases, like carbon dioxide, act like a performance-enhancer when it comes to warm weather extreme, because they considerably intensify the probability for setting new records for hot

Groundbreaking heat in the summer of 2003 caused an estimated 70,000 deaths in Europe. Temperatures during that summer in parts of Europe were 5-10°C (9-18°F) higher than in 2001. The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events. Since the 1970s, December-February temperature increases have ranged from 1 to 2 degrees in the Pacific Northwest to about 4 degrees in the Northeast to more than 6 degrees in Alaska. Winters are getting shorter, too. Spring arrives 10-14 days earlier than it did just 20 years ago. The frequency of large wildfires and the total area burned have been steadily increasing in the Western United States because of the lack of rainfall, with global warming believed to be a major contributing factor. There have been many other rapidly changing weather patterns in the past few decades. The question is: Are humans responsible for these unusual weather patterns because of global warming? Scientists worldwide are trying to find the answer.

Extreme weathers, such as storm, floods, heat waves, drought, glacial retreat, have suffered human-being and threaten the life, properties and economies for a long time. In recent years, a significant increase is observed in the extreme weathers, such as the number of heavy precipitation events, more intense and longer drought/heat waves as a consequence of anthropogenic influences (IPCC, 2011). In particular, intensification of extreme precipitation is likely to lead extreme coastal high water associated with an increase in mean sea level. On the other hand, there might be positive results from global warming, such as improved agriculture in some high latitude regions (Mendelsohn, 2006), but economic losses from weather-

E4 Flooding and ironically more draughts have occurred. Global warming not only increases precipitation world- wide but also relocates precipitation. Soil evaporation increases considerably with higher temperatures (An Inconvenient Truth). "When it rains, it rains harder and when it's not raining, it's warmer - there is more evaporation, and droughts can last longer," explains Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center.

because the increased temperature in surface waters and the lower atmosphere will (and already is) increase the frequency and intensity of such storm systems” (Meyer). With these stronger storms comes massive economically and environmentally damage that could be on the scale or even larger than storms like Hurricane Katrina (which caused over 120 billion dollars in damage).

Climate change has been a very popular topic lately with all the crazy natural acts of destruction occurring lately. Hurricane Harvey, Irma and now Hurricane Nate. Most experts argue that the recent occurrence of tropical storms has to do with the tremendous amount of global warming within the atmosphere. I for one agree that there is a correlation between climate change and natural disasters. The outcomes of an increase in global temperatures include increased risk of drought and increased intensity of storms and tropical cyclones with higher wind speeds.

In the past few years climate change has been slowly increasing the likelihood of severe weather like hurricanes, forest fires, and drought. One of the major causes of climate change is the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide found within the atmosphere. This increase is caused by human activity. With this increase it changes the atmosphere and that in turn changes weather patterns. The change in weather patterns causes abnormal weather seasons to occur.

Climate change is a process that has begun to affect us all. You may have noticed increased rainfall, or increased temperature during your lifetime. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey swept through Houston, Texas in a string of hurricanes across the Atlantic. Climate change has been the main catalyst for this occurrence, and has moved from a questionable prognosis to a certain theory and something that is accepted by nearly all scientists. Although some scientists may argue that climate change is a natural process, it cannot be denied that it’s happening. According to an analysis by NASA scientists, “the average global temperature has increased by about 1.4° Fahrenheit since 1880” ("World of Change: Global Temperatures: Feature Articles”).

Climate change has been a very popular topic lately with all the crazy natural acts of destruction occurring lately. Hurricane Harvey, Irma and now Hurricane Nate. Most experts argue that the recent occurrence of tropical storms has to do with the tremendous amount of global warming within the atmosphere. I for one agree that there is a correlation between climate change and natural disasters. The outcomes of an increase in global temperatures include increased risk of drought and increased intensity of storms and tropical cyclones with higher wind speeds.

Leonhardt states, “40 years ago, the earth’s surface temperatures began to break out of their recent historical range and just kept climbing. Not coincidentally, the number of storms with extreme rainfall began to increase around the same time” (Leonhardt 1). Leonhardt even provides graphs to explain his point. In Figure 1, titled “Global Surface Temperatures, relative to 1951-1980 Average” one can notice that whenever there is a major rocket in temperature, there is a corresponding rise in Figure 2 titled, “U.S. weather stations experiencing an extreme rainstorm” which regards extreme rainfall. For example, from about 1940 to about 1950 there is

This increase is due to the giant and ever growing, uncontrollable, hairy, monster that is global warming. Climate changes are escalating the ocean and atmosphere temperatures, creating more intense storms of all types. Those in the developed world are not invulnerable. The severe temperatures, heat waves, flooding and droughts expose vast numbers to the life of an eco-refugee (Meinhold, 2013). The human’s green eye and rapid relocations to undeveloped land and fertile soil additionally cause this deadly increase. People are poking the bear by tempting the flood-prone regions with rapid urbanization. As cement engulfs and devours the earth’s floor, becoming our primary terrain, soil is unable to act as the designated natural sponge to the excessive run-off. The consequences of human’s environmental alterations are wreaking havoc.

2014 broke records in terms of highest temperatures to date. Around this time, droughts, wildfires and other notable weather episodes lessened in rarity. These new visible extreme events were quickly blamed on climate change by the masses. However, it may or may not be true that these climactic incidents are symptomatic of an environmental imbalance. Climate change is defined as an accentuated difference in averages of weather circumstances or in intense meteorological occurrences for a given time. Studies do show that temperatures are increasing, that water levels and reserves are in displacement, that abnormally strong weather occurrences are on the rise and that oceans are acidifying. Scientists state that data is limited time-wise and in some areas around the world causing some inconclusive results, especially so in the field of severe weather events, but studies of this data remains substantial.

nature 's response. Furthermore, with focus on the south regional state of Texas, this research

As the climate has warmed, some types of extreme weather have become more frequent and severe in recent decades, with increases in extreme heat, intense precipitation, and drought. Heat waves are longer and hotter. Heavy rains and flooding are more frequent. In a wide swing between extremes, drought, too, is more intense and more widespread. All weather events are now influenced by climate change because all weather now develops in a different

The rapid changes in the Earth’s climate is phenomenally impacting how people live on a day to day basis. Regardless of whether people choose to believe it or not, records have shown that vast changes in temperature and weather patterns have definitely occurred since the Industrial Revolution. Moreover, each year we continue to see and deal with harsher and more severe weather conditions. For example, recently here in Dallas, the weather has been completely out of the ordinary considering these warm seventy-degree temperatures in mid-winter. Not to mention the series of unexpected tornadoes that tragically ended the lives of 11 people (a 3-month baby included) the day after Christmas. It is unusual to see