The Importance Of Climate Change

With this many different type terrain there comes different types of weather and climate. Normally in Texas the temperatures usually don’t fluctuate that much. It’s normally colder north and warmer in the south, as well as, wetter in the east than the west. However, we will explore the weather and climate of Texas’ past. We will start in the decade of 1940’s and move to 50’s and 60’s, and discover the routes of past hurricanes, along with the rainfall and temperatures of the Upper Coast, South Central Texas and the Edwards Plateau (Nielsen-Gammon).

Throughout the years, politicians have been reticent to address a grave issue that will soon effect our population as a global entity. The reduction of our carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere is an accepted and supported solution to reversing climate change. It is widely known that the burning of fossil fuels causes irreparable damage and irreversible change in regards to the environment, but not enough is being done to take initiative and make changes in the way we obtain our energy. Being that our fossil fuels are finite and only located in certain areas of the world, the burning of coal, oil and natural gas are not sensible solutions to our energy and climate dilemma. A largely controversial “solution” to the global energy and climate crisis is nuclear power; a nearly emission free energy source that has seen success famously in France but makes people hesitant towards after incidents like Fukushima in Japan. In order to weigh the pros and cons of a prospective global giant, one must analyze the energy policies of countries where nuclear energy has been the most prevalent, successful, and disastrous. Despite the recent accident in Japan, which may have been enlarged by outside factors, nuclear energy has proven itself to be an energy source efficient enough to sustain an industrialized nation like France, while drastically cutting carbon emissions simultaneously; which are reasons that support its ability to become a transitional energy in the near future.

The beautiful and always sunny state of Florida may not be known as the “beautiful” state anymore. With the effects of climate change headed straight their way, the state might be completely taken away by the seas. Although there are many factors contributing to climate

The intensity, frequency, and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes, as well as the frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes, have all increased since the early 1980s (Bell 2012). The increase in hurricanes can be linked to higher sea surface temperatures caused by multiple outside sources. Human induced emissions of heat-trapping gases and particulate pollution are two of the possible sources that are affecting the sea surface temperature. Humans are the main contributor contributing to climate change and global warming, but most seem not to care. Not only is the amount of hurricanes increasing, but heat waves are increasing and intensifying in some western parts of the country. Heat waves have become more frequent across The United States in recent decades. Western regions are setting records for numbers of heat waves and droughts in the 2000s. Data collected suggests that the droughts over the last decade in the West represent the driest conditions in the last 800 years (Vose 2005). With varying weather all over the country, the real estate market is beginning to be affected as well. Popular ski capitals will no longer have their icy slopes and eventually the popular beaches will be too hot to visit or will not have any beach left, causing drops in vacation rentals and permanent housing

Terre Haute lies in an area described as a humid, subtropical climate, a Cfa on the Koppen Letter Code System. This area is a mild, mid-latitude climate characterized by warm-to-hot summers, precipitation with a summer maximum, and mild winter temperatures. Both Berkeley and Terre Haute lie within relatively the same latitudes, however, Berkeley lies in an area stabilized by the poleward migration of the subtropical high and relatively cool water of the Pacific Ocean (Hess, 2013). This brings dry weather to Berkeley. Terre Haute, however, does not benefit from this stability, and continues to experience precipitation throughout the summer months. In the areas of the Eastern United States, this effect is also contributed to by the influence of tropical cyclones.

Climate change is also having an effect on the rain, snow, and the hurricanes. The strength of hurricanes are getting more and more powerful each year. According to a study done by, "Signs of Climate Change", in the 1950 hurricanes were between and category 2-3

Climate change data was collected from the IPPC AR4 General Circulation Model (GCM). The GCM is regionally dependent and shows the different mixes of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere. (Sheffield & Wood, 2007, p.81) The simple mutlicalar drought index (SPEI) is used to show the climatic water balance. Monthly or weekly difference physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and precipitation and is calculated at different times. (Vicente-Serrano, Beguería, & López-Moreno, 2009, p. 1699) Streamflow data was obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey Hydrological Climate Date Network (HCDN). (Regonda, Rajagopalan, Clark, & Pitlick, 2004, p.374) Snowfall data is gathered from surveys that were performed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and precipitation data was gathered from the National Weather Service Cooperative Network. (Regonda, Rajagopalan, Clark, & Pitlick, 2004, p.375)

The most prominent characteristic that I observed from this climate graph is the drastic temperature change that occurs throughout the year. From February, the temperature begins to increase, and it continues to do so at a constant, steady rate until it reaches its peak of 17 to 18°C somewhere around July and August. From there, a steady pattern of temperature decrease can be observed, until it hits its lowest point at which the year started from: -8 to -7°C. The total overall temperature change, looking from these approximations, seems to be 25°C. The actual temperature range, calculated using the more accurately shown chart

Scientists are not sure that climate change directly affects the extremity of weather, but it is clear it helps the impacts. Andrew Freedman is a senior science writer for Climate Central, an independent research organization. He studies climate change. Hurricane Sandy clashed with the east coast in 2012. Three factors that could have effected it: sea level rise, non regular warm sea surface temperatures, and unusual weather pattern. Natural causes still predominately are main forces for situations like these. Global warming has increased the severity. Hurricane Sandy starts questions about Climate change impacting storms and weather patterns, and how vulnerable the east coast is. This is credible because it was written by an independent research

As the industry in the Midwest began to dwindle the residents of the region began moving to the south. The climate of the region generally saw longer summers and milder winters than what other regions did. In fact the Florida climate was even tropical and a vast departure from the north. One particular piece of technology came to the forefront during this time, the air conditioner. The development of this climate controlling device made the hotter summers easier to stand for those not quite used to the heat and, at least in the case of the southeast's climate, the humidity.

Global warming is one of the biggies topic issues in our society today, with that being said there are many misconceptions or misunderstandings of what global warming will to affect our worlds climates. Throughout this paper I plan to inform you of what Global Warming is, how Climates work to form severe weather systems that produce Hurricanes and what global warming will do to affect how hurricanes form and act. With severe weather systems such as Hurricanes, Tornadoes and typhoons, global warming will have a serious impact on millions of people across the globe, who are at risk of these violent acts of nature, and global warming will only make these events worse.

I. (Attention Getter) 2016 was a record setting year for climate change. The first six months were the warmest that have

A second study states “Although some records are available from the 1600s and 1700s , systematic measurements of climate began in the mid-1800s. The data include measurements of surface temperature over land and the oceans, precipitation amounts, sea-ice extents, and global sea levels. Since the 1970s, satellite studies have provided additional data on temperature trends at Earth’s surface and through the layers of the atmosphere” (“Global Warming- Britannica”). The second source backs up the first source with exact quantitative data about changes in the first. (See pictures on page 6-7 ). The first topic of the United Nation’s Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report is “Observed Changes and their Cause” which states “Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850” (“United Nations” pg 7). These three sources prove, through scientific observational facts, that the climate of the Earth’s surface is changing very rapidly, therefore, proving that through conclusive science the topic of climate changer is accurate.

Global warming has NOT caused any adverse weather conditions. Global warming alarmists have said that there would be an upward increase in the number of hurricanes and strength all over the globe. Instead, global hurricane activity has decreased instead, since 200 to a 30+ year low. As of June 15, 2013, the U.S. has gone seven years without a major hurricane that has actually hit land, which is the longest time since the 1860s (Watts, 2013). All time snow records were set in virtually all the bigger, major cities, and the northern hemisphere snow coverage has increased all but one out of five years, since 2007/2008 (Watts, 2013). Also, over by the east coast, the NOAA has been tracking high impact snowstorms, and 11/46 of

Over the years there has been a lot of controversy on if climate change is an issue that needs to be discussed and solved. There is a constant debate among scientist on if human actions are contributing the changing of earth’s climates. Climate change is defined as the change in average weather patterns for a specific region or Earth as a whole. This could include the change in an average temperature for a city or the amount a rainfall it receives (Dunbar, 2015). The main difference between weather and climate is the period of time specific patterns are recorded. Weather patterns are looked at over a much shorter period of time, meaning that these patterns are going to be more sporadic and change more frequently. Climate on the other had is recorded over a much longer period of time and usually show less drastic changes in patterns when compared to weather. Some people may argue that climate change is not an issue because Earth’s temperature is always changing do to natural effects. What people don’t realize is that human activity has effected the rate that earth’s temperature is changing, and just the smallest changes can lead to drastic consequences (Dunbar, 2015).