A new report by an Australian think tank called Breakthrough National Center for Climate Restoration predicts that humanity could be reaching a point of no return by 2050 if climate change concerns are not addressed. Here is how climate change affects weather.
The terms "weather" and "climate" are not interchangeable. Weather refers to daily variations in temperature, precipitation, wind etc. And, according to the NOAA, climate is the average weather conditions of an area over at least a 30-year period.
Global warming refers to the gradual increase of the Earth's average temperature. The sudden rise in temperature in recent years is primarily attributed to the increasing presence of greenhouse gases caused by human activity.
These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Climate change refers to changes in weather patterns in Earth over an extended period of time.
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| A woman (C), who scavenges for recyclable plastics for a living, collects plastic bottles next to Marabou storks who feed on the garbage, as she puts them in a sack at the Dandora dumpsite, before selling them for recycling in Nairobi, Kenya, 04 June 2019, ahead of World Environment Day. Air pollution and improving air quality in cities across the world is the theme of World Environment Day 2019, marked on 05 June 2019. EPA |
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| FILE - This Sept. 5, 2017 file photo shows the Eagle Creek wildfire burning on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge near Cascade Locks, Ore. Researchers at the University of Idaho say the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere from forest fires in the U.S. West is being greatly overestimated, possibly leading to poor land management decisions. Researchers in the study published last week in the journal Global Change Biology say many estimates are 59% to 83% higher than what is found based on field observations. AP |
These changes are natural, however, activities including fossil fuel combustion, land use, deforestation, and agriculture magnify these changes. A research published in 2018 in Nature Communications explained that the record-breaking cold weather and polar vortex disruptions are caused by Arctic warming.
Fast flowing air currents located in the Earth's northern hemisphere called jet streams are responsible for weather fluctuations around the globe. These winds move from east-to-west and are pushed by the difference between Arctic and tropical air.
Higher temperatures in the Arctic make the jetstream move further south. This fluctuation causes places located to the South of the Arctic to experience colder winters. (Next Animation via Reuters)
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