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Kim Joyce, a woman who was a survivor of Hurricane Sandy, was hit hard. A huge wave hit her back wall, and she was separated from her boyfriend when trying to leave her house to get to her mother’s. Her house was destroyed, and she lost both of her cats. ¹

So why is the weather so intense now? The weather is getting more intense because of climate change. It isn’t being created by climate change. It’s just getting more intense because of it. For example, storms and floods are always on the news for destroying a town or city. These storms and floods have always been around, but they are just being intensified by the rising sea levels, which are caused by global warming. ²

How is global warming affecting the weather then? Heatwaves and droughts are as bad as they are because of greenhouse gases. The pollution that we create is the most likely reason for them. Burning fossil fuels is what causes this extreme heat and dryness. Storms and floods are more intense because of the amount of evaporation that is happening. More evaporation is occurring because when the temperatures get warmer, the amount of energy that is needed for evaporation goes down.³ The more evaporation that occurs, the more moisture in the atmosphere there is. So as a result, there is heavier rain. This is the same for snowfall if the temperatures get below freezing.⁴ This intense weather seems to be mostly caused by one thing: global warming.

What can we do to prevent this ongoing intense weather? The same things that we would do to prevent global warming. The less we pollute, the healthier Earth will be. If we can cut down on emissions significantly, then over time the intensity of the weather will calm down, and other problems like rising sea levels and warmer temperatures will get closer to being solved, too. Stories like Kim’s may not exist or be as dramatic if emissions were not as high. We don’t have to go through what Kim had to go through if we can cut down on emissions and make Earth healthier and cleaner. 

Image: Carstens-Peters, Glenn. “water drops.” Unsplash, 9 June 2019, https://unsplash.com/photos/SrACTSOBoCg 

1.  https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a19898125/hurricane-sandy-survivor/
2.  https://www.edf.org/climate/climate-change-and-extreme-weather
3. https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/food_supply/student_materials/905
4.  https://www.edf.org/climate/climate-change-and-extreme-weather