Ice, Fire, Floods: Extreme Weather and Climate Change

Not that many years ago, a senator used a snowball gathered outside the U.S. Capitol to stand as conclusive proof that global warming didn’t exist. That’s not an argument heard much any more, even as a severe cold snap has created emergency conditions in Texas and other southern states. The connections between warming trends and extreme weather aren’t completely understood, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that there’s a connection between climate change and rising damage from hurricanes, typhoons, rainstorms, wildfires and heat and cold.

The Earth’s poles are warming faster than anywhere on the planet: The North Pole has been heating up about twice as fast as the rest of Earth for the last 30 years, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center. In the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, this has led to a decrease in the contrast between the heat of the equator and the cold of North Pole. The strength of the summer jet stream, a river of wind that propels weather systems around the globe, depends on extreme temperature differences between these two regions. As the planet warms and this contrast diminishes, the jet stream weakens and can no longer push large weather patterns out of the way.