What kinds of extreme weather do you know

Конспект по английскому языку на тему «Экстримальная погода»

The weather is very important in the life of people. Every morning we look out of windows to see what the weather is like. It can be sunny, windy, cloudy, foggy, rainy.
However sometimes we have a type of extreme weather, or natural disasters, for example, hurricane, tornado, lightning, hailstorm, earthquake. Many of them can damage or destroy buildings, roads, can kill people and animals.
For example, Hurricane Katrina…

When Katrina occurred, over 80% of the city was under water. Hurricane Katrina was one of the most powerful storms that has ever hit the Atlantic coast with winds of over 270km per hour. As it became stronger over the Gulf of Mexico, the mayor of New Orleans declared a state of emergency and started evacuating the city. As the hurricane came ashore, it brought an 800-metre-high storm surge that rod the rivers up to New Orleans, and smashed through the levees. Almost 1500 people had lost their lives, because of Hurricane Katrina.

A tsunami is a large wave that travels at great speed towards land. They are usually caused by an undersea earthquake, but they can also happen after a large undersea landslide and an underwater volcanic eruption. When undersea earthquake happens, the Earth’s tectonic plates move suddenly downward and upwards. The water forms a wave. Just like when you throw a pebble into a lake, the water is very powerful force and can cause tremendous damage.

Nowadays more and more changes are taking place in the world’s climate. Because of global warming the weather is becoming more extreme. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis are becoming more violent and severe.

Extreme Weather

Introduction

Extreme weather is a weather event such as snow, rain, drought, flood, or storm that is rare for the place where it occurs. For example, normal temperatures at the equator would constitute a heat wave if they occurred at the North Pole. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that “rare” means in the bottom 10% or top 10% of severity for a given event type in a given location. Because extreme weather is by definition rare, it is difficult to assess the risk of such events, including changes in risk with global warming.

Also, since extreme weather events have always occurred, even before anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change began to be unequivocally present starting in about 1980, it is impossible to attribute any one extreme event to climate change. Climate change is likely to increase the frequency of heat waves or other extreme weather events, but it will never be possible to point to one such event and say that it was caused by climate change.

Nevertheless, it is possible to estimate the effects of climate change on the frequency and average magnitude (strength) of extreme weather events. There is evidence that some weather extremes have already shifted: cold nights have decreased globally, for example, while warm nights have increased (associated with heat waves). Droughts, storm intensity, and heat waves have increased and will continue to do so. Most categories of extreme weather events, with the exception of cold waves, are predicted to continue to increase with global warming.

Historical Background and Scientific Foundations

Historical data enable us to see whether global warming has already changed the frequency of various extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods, and hurricanes. Weather observations of uniform quality for the whole globe have only been available since about 1970, when satellite data were first gathered. Data from earlier decades on tropical cyclones in some parts of the world are spotty, and even after 1970 data on cyclone intensity are not always of good quality

However, during the twentieth century, a global network of weather stations gradually came into being, and adequate data are available for most regions for the last half-century or more. Since 2000, global data collection has improved greatly, with the collection of continent-scale daily data sets, the placement of more closely spaced instruments, and the recovery of data from national archives.

These data show that from 1950 to the early 2000s, the number of heat waves has increased, along with the incidence of warm nights. In most places the number of heavy precipitation events (unusually heavy rainfalls) has increased, along with flood frequency. The intensity of tropical cyclones (called hurricanes when they occur in the Atlantic) has probably increased since 1995, but the frequency of such storms has probably not increased.

The observational record for several important categories of extreme weather events follows. In the final section, projections for changes in these types of extreme weather events during the twenty-first century are described.

Temperature

On the scale of days rather than of seasons, there is evidence that cold nights have become less common and warm nights more common. This is a global pattern, but specific regions show various patterns. In Central America and northern South America, for example, extremes of both cold and warmth have become more common; in southern South America, cold nights have become rarer and warm nights more common, but there has been no widening of extremes. That is, the more-frequent warm nights are not any warmer, on average, than warm nights used to be in that region.

Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, heat waves have increased in duration. Although climate scientists frequently caution that no particular weather event can be said to be caused by climate change (or purely natural causes), individual events can illustrate what sorts of event are likely to become more common because of climate change. The 2003 heat wave in Europe is one such event. That June-July-August period was the hottest in Europe since instrumental record-keeping in the region began in 1780, beating the previous record-holder, the summer of 1807, by 2.52°F (1.4°C). Heat waves have become more frequent and longer-lasting in Europe and other areas of the world since the beginning of the twentieth century.

Drought

Warming speeds up the drying of soil and so tends to increase the frequency and severity of droughts even apart from decreases in rainfall. Soil moisture has been found to be decreasing over the Northern Hemisphere since the mid–1950s, especially in Eurasia, northern Africa, Canada, and Alaska. Trends have been smaller and more erratic in the Southern Hemisphere. Only extreme decreases in soil moisture correspond to drought. Drought is not strictly defined: agricultural drought refers to low moisture in the topmost yard (meter) or so of soil, which affects crops, while meteorological drought refers to a long period of low precipitation, and hydrologic drought refers to below-normal levels in streams, lakes, and groundwater.

A widely accepted scientific measure of drought is the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), which assesses soil moisture by combining data on precipitation, temperature, and locally available water. Global PDSI has varied greatly from year-to-year over the last century, but the overall trend has been upward. Most of the world has seen significant increase in PDSI, that is, more drought. Africa, particularly in the Sahel (the east-west band just south of the Sahara desert), has shown particularly strong increases in drought. The only large areas with moistening trends are central South America, western Russia, Scandinavia, and the east-central United States. This pattern is caused by a combination of slightly lower precipitation with higher temperatures due to global warming. According to one study cited by the IPCC, “very dry” zones worldwide have more than doubled in area since the 1970s due to a combination of natural (El Niño–Southern Oscillation) forcings and anthropogenic global warming.

WORDS TO KNOW

ANTHROPOGENIC: Made by people or resulting from human activities. Usually used in the context of emissions that are produced as a result of human activities.

CLIMATE MODEL: A quantitative way of representing the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice. Models can range from relatively simple to quite comprehensive.

CLIMATOLOGIST: Scientist who specializes in the study of climate.

DROUGHT: A prolonged and abnormal shortage of rain.

PRECIPITATION: Moisture that falls from clouds. Although clouds appear to float in the sky, they are always falling, the water droplets slowly being pulled down by gravity. Because their water droplets are so small and light, it can take 21 days to fall 1,000 ft (305 m) and wind currents can easily interrupt their descent. Liquid water falls as rain or drizzle. All raindrops form around particles of salt or dust. (Some of this dust comes from tiny meteorites and even the tails of comets.) Water or ice droplets stick to these particles, then the drops attract more water and continue getting bigger until they are large enough to fall out of the cloud. Drizzle drops are smaller than raindrops. In many clouds, raindrops actually begin as tiny ice crystals that form when part or all of a cloud is below freezing. As the ice crystals fall inside the cloud, they may collide with water droplets that freeze onto them. The ice crystals continue to grow larger, until large enough to fall from the cloud. They pass through warm air, melt, and fall as raindrops.

SAHEL: The transition zone in Africa between the Sahara Desert to the north and tropical forests to the south. This dry land belt stretches across Africa and is under stress from land use and climate variability.

TROPICAL CYCLONES: Large rotating storm systems characterized by a clear, low-pressure center surrounded by spiral arms of thunderstorms. Such storms form in the tropics because they are powered by the thermal energy of warm surface ocean waters. In the Atlantic, tropical cyclones are termed hurricanes.

Precipitation

One result of global warming is increased evaporation. Because evaporation acts to cool land, areas where moisture has increased, such as eastern North and South America, have warmed less than other parts of the world. One result of increased evaporation is that there is more moisture available for extreme precipitation events— unusually massive downpours or snowstorms. The former can be especially destructive, causing flooding. The IPCC finds that there has been a shift toward more precipitation coming from very wet days (upper 5% of wet-day rainfall intensities) in recent decades. There will likely be a 2–4% increase in the number of extreme precipitation vents in middle and high latitudes in the coming century. One study (Palmer and Raäisaänen, 2002) has found that the frequency of extreme precipitation events will increase by about a factor of five over parts of the United Kingdom by 2100. Data are still not adequate to form a consistent account of such changes in the tropics and subtropics.

A 2002 study by P. C. D. Milly and colleagues investigated changes in great floods, that is, floods above 100-year levels from 29 drainage basins larger than 77,220 square mi (200,000 square km). The scientists found that there has been a substantial increase in such floods since the beginning of the twentieth century, that this increase is consistent with computer climate models, and that the models predict such floods will continue to increase in frequency with global warming.

Tropical Cyclones

Tropical cyclones (called hurricanes when they occur in the Atlantic Ocean) have probably increased in intensity and duration since about 1995. They have probably not increased in frequency (about 60 occur each year worldwide, for reasons that are not yet understood). Warming of sea surface temperatures is expected by some scientists to increase hurricane intensity and duration because hurricanes draw their energy from warm surface waters. Climate scientists are divided over the question of whether the observed and predicted increases in intensity and duration of tropical cyclones are real.

Impacts and Issues

Climate scientists project that continued warming of Earth’s atmosphere will lead to increased summer drying of soils with increased risk of drought over most of the world’s land area. In the business-as-usual (most pessimistic) IPCC projection scenario, the percentage of world land area experiencing extreme drought at any one time increases from 1% today to 30% by 2100. Actual changes will depend on whether efforts to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions are successful and on the uncertainties involved in predicting Earth’s behavior as a physical system.

Although it may seem paradoxical, risk of extreme precipitation and flooding increases even as risk of drought increases. Warmer air has greater water-holding capacity; precipitation will occur in more concentrated events with longer dry periods in between. During the dry periods, soils dry; during the intense precipitation events, water runs off rather than soaking in: dry soils absorb water more slowly than moist soils and sudden bursts of water tend to run off faster than they can be absorbed even under the best conditions.

Heat waves will continue to become more common. The European heat wave of 2003 is representative of the type of heat waves that will become more common as the climate warms. Extreme weather around the world in 2007 was unusually common. Omar Baddour, a climatologist employed by the United Nations’s World Meteorological Organization, said that “When we observe such extremes in individual years, it means that this fits well with current knowledge from the IPCC report on global trends” (Associated Press, 2007).

Not all forms of extreme weather will increase under global warming. Computer models project a 50–100% decrease in the number of cold waves (also called cold-air outbreaks or cold snaps) in the Northern Hemisphere relative to rates in the early 2000s. There is not enough evidence, as of late 2007, to say whether tornadoes, hail, lightning, and dust storms are yet occurring at greater frequency or intensity because of global warming.

Primary Source Connection

This section from a 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report examines climate data from 1950 to present. A review of this scientific evidence indicates that there has been a noticeable and quantifiable change in the global climate over the last 50 years.

The IPCC is a scientific body that was founded by the United Nations in 1988 under the United Nations Environment Programme and the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization.

IN CONTEXT: DESERTIFICATION AND DEATH

Desertification claimed major international attention in the 1970s. This resulted from an extended period of severe drought in the Sahel region during 1968 to 1973, affecting six African countries on the southern border of the Sahara Desert. Although international relief measures were undertaken, millions of livestock died during that prolonged drought, and thousands of people suffered or died of starvation.

Arid lands in parts of North America are among those severely affected by desertification; almost 90% of such habitats are considered to be moderately to severely desertified. The arid and semi-arid lands of the western and southwestern United States are highly vulnerable to this kind of damage.

OBSERVATIONS: SURFACE AND ATMOSPHERIC CLIMATE CHANGE

Frequently Asked Question 3.3

Has there been a Change in Extreme Events like Heat Waves, Droughts, Floods and Hurricanes?

Since 1950, the number of heat waves has increased and widespread increases have occurred in the numbers of warm nights. The extent of regions affected by droughts has also

increased as precipitation over land has marginally decreased while evaporation has increased due to warmer conditions. Generally, numbers of heavy daily precipitation events that lead to flooding have increased, but not everywhere. Tropical storm and hurricane frequencies vary considerably from year to year, but evidence suggests substantial increases in intensity and duration since the 1970s. In the extratropics, variations in tracks and intensity of storms reflect variations in major features of the atmospheric circulation, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation.

In several regions of the world, indications of changes in various types of extreme climate events have been found. The extremes are commonly considered to be the values exceeded 1, 5 and 10% of the time (at one extreme) or 90, 95 and 99% of the time (at the other extreme). The warm nights or hot days (discussed below) are those exceeding the 90th percentile of temperature, while cold nights or days are those falling below the 10th percentile. Heavy precipitation is defined as daily amounts greater than the 95th (or for ‘very heavy’, the 99th) percentile.

In the last 50 years for the land areas sampled, there has been a significant decrease in the annual occurrence of cold nights and a significant increase in the annual occurrence of warm nights. Decreases in the occurrence of cold days and increases in hot days, while widespread, are generally less marked. The distributions of minimum and maximum temperatures have not only shifted to higher values, consistent with overall warming, but the cold extremes have warmed more than the warm extremes over the last 50 years …. More warm extremes imply an increased frequency of heat waves. Further supporting indications include the observed trend towards fewer frost days associated with the average warming in most mid-latitude regions.

A prominent indication of a change in extremes is the observed evidence of increases in heavy precipitation events over the mid-latitudes in the last 50 years, even in places where mean precipitation amounts are not increasing. For very heavy precipitation events, increasing trends are reported as well, but results are available for few areas.

Changes in tropical storm and hurricane frequency and intensity are masked by large natural variability. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation greatly affects the location and activity of tropical storms around the world. Globally, estimates of the potential destructiveness of hurricanes show a substantial upward trend since the mid– 1970s, with a trend towards longer storm duration and greater storm intensity, and the activity is strongly correlated with tropical sea surface temperature. These relationships have been reinforced by findings of a large increase in numbers and proportion of strong hurricanes globally since 1970 even as total numbers of cyclones and cyclone days decreased slightly in most basins. Specifically, the number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes increased by about 75% since 1970. The largest increases were in the North Pacific, Indian and Southwest Pacific Oceans. However, numbers of hurricanes in the North Atlantic have also been above normal in 9 of the last 11 years, culminating in the record–breaking 2005 season.

Based on a variety of measures at the surface and in the upper troposphere, it is likely that there has been a poleward shift as well as an increase in Northern Hemisphere winter storm track activity over the second half of the 20th century. These changes are part of variations that have occurred related to the North Atlantic Oscillation. Observations from 1979 to the mid-1990s reveal a tendency towards a stronger December to February circumpolar westerly atmospheric circulation throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere, together with poleward displacements of jet streams and increased storm track activity. Observational evidence for changes in small-scale severe weather phenomena (such as tornadoes, hail and thunderstorms) is mostly local and too scattered to draw general conclusions; increases in many areas arise because of increased public awareness and improved efforts to collect reports of these phenomena.

“observations: surface and atmospheric climate change.” climate change 2007: the physical science basis, chapter 3. intergovernmental panel on climate change, 2007.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Solomon, S., et al, eds. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Periodicals

Benniston, Martin. “Linking Extreme Climate Events and Economic Impacts: Examples from the Swiss Alps.” Energy Policy 35 (2007): 5384–5392.

Kaufman, Marc. “Across Globe, Extremes of Heat and Rain.” The Washington Post (August 8, 2007).

Milly, P. C. D., et al. “Increasing Risk of Great Floods in a Changing Climate.” Nature 415 (2002): 514–517.

Palmer, T. N., and J. Ra¨isa¨nen. “Quantifying the Risk of Extreme Seasonal Precipitation Events in a Changing Climate.” Nature 415 (2002): 512–513.

Web Sites

Associated Press. “UN: Weather Extremes Match Forecast.” USAToday.com, August 7, 2007. (accessed November 11, 2007).

Sharma, Anju. “Assessing, Predicting, and Managing Current and Future Climate Variability and Extreme Events, and Implications for Sustainable Development.” UNFCCC Workshop on Climate Related Risks and Extreme Events under the Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation, June 2007. (accessed November 11, 2007).

Consequences of Extreme Weather – Each Type Explained

Types of extreme weather with their effects

Consequences of extreme weather:

There are lots of weather we can see every single day. Some of them are pleasant, giving peace to our mind, whereas some are extreme, and such severe weather conditions affect lives to a large extent.

These conditions are not new; however, the consequences of those extreme weather conditions have increased from the past few years.

These conditions seem natural as we feel these naturally, but these are significantly affected by human activities.

Deforestation, pollution, mining, and resource depletion are some examples of human activities affecting our climate.

And as a result of such climate change or global warming, we are facing problems such as drought due to prolonged heating and lack of rain, flood by extreme rainfall, thunderstorm, tornadoes, snowstorms, etc.

We human beings are responsible for destroying our own habitat. And after knowing the reality, we should take preventive measures in order to cancel the effects.

Here in this article, we will discuss the major types of extreme weather along with the consequences of them. So, let’s dive right in.

Table of Contents

What Are the Different Types of Extreme Weather and Their Effects?

As we already know, there are several kinds of weather, and these include different extreme weather scenarios. We have not only felt them, but we already get their effects from how much loss they can do.

So, let’s discuss those extreme weather conditions with their causes, effects, and examples.

Cyclone or Hurricanes Extreme Effects

If a large mass of air rotates in an inward spiral fashion to an area of low pressure, it is known as cyclones or hurricanes. In the northern hemisphere, these spirals revolve in an anti-clockwise direction, whereas the rotation is clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

There are lots of evidence showing the effects of intense cyclones or hurricanes. Hurricane Dorian was a great example of the most recent cyclones occurred in 2019. It was a tropical cyclone with a rate of 185km/hour.

Some examples of super-cyclones in India are Amphan, Vayu, Fani, etc. Some other hurricanes occurred in 2020 are eta in the Atlantic Ocean, Nangka in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, Norbert in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, etc.

A vast majority of the population gets affected by the consequences of such extreme weather in Southeast Asia, the Americas, and the western pacific.

According to research, the effects of cyclones or hurricanes between 1980 and 2009 include the death of 412,644 people, and 290,654 people found injured. Besides, 466.1 million people get affected by losing their homes, crops, and cattle.

Based on a report by WHO, the human-made causes for higher hazard rates are habitats in coastal regions, poor construction of buildings, insufficient time for spreading awareness, and further the unavailability of sufficient shelters for the rescue.

The direct effects of intense cyclones include injuries, traumas, the collapse of buildings, crop loss, electricity and communication loss, etc. However, some indirect consequences of such drastic extreme weather include the spreading of water-borne diseases, flood, drought due to scarcity of food, and also mental trauma.

For the reconstruction and providing relief against the loss, economic loss occurs.

Flood Extreme Consequences

A submerged land within a large quantity of overflowing water is the condition of the flood. There are lots of causes for flooding; however, we can take flood as the consequences of the previously discussed extreme weather condition. Yes, a super-cyclone can cause severe flooding in a tropical region.

Some other causes of floods are prolonged rainfall, infiltration, basin shape, a large amount of discharge, deforestation, etc.

According to the report published in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and some other information, flooding is an extreme weather condition, that affects many people.

There are lots of instances showing flood conditions, their effects as well the control measures taken in different parts of the world.

However, the most flood-prone region of the world in Asia and specifically India. Most of the flood conditions in India are due to heavy prolonged rainfall and super-cyclones.

The effects of this type of extreme weather issue are also intense, which affects the region socially, ecologically, and further economically.

These effects include the destruction of agricultural lands, habitats, essential services, and also increased spread of vector transmitted and water-borne diseases.

Drought Extreme Effects

Drought is an extreme weather condition, which affects the population to a large extent. Drought is characterized by little water availability (groundwater, streams, rivers, etc.) in a particular region.

The primary cause behind a deadly drought situation is the rate of precipitation, which is generally below average in this condition resulting in dry soil (lack of moisture).

It can be a condition of prolonged extreme weather, which brings the consequences of a large population’s death in that particular area.

According to FAO, 2013, It was found that since 1900, about 11 million loss of human lives occurred due to the dramatic drought situation worldwide.

Based on a report by WHO, about 55 million people globally are impacted by the effects of drought every year.

Drought causes drying of rivers, lakes, ponds, or even groundwater bodies, which results in little availability of drinking water. Further, drying of soil and lack of watering causes food loss, which results in ultimate death.

Severe Storms (Thunderstorm, Tornadoes, Hail storm, Blizzards, Dust storm)

Besides, the above said extreme weather, several kinds of storms affect our social, ecological, and economic life. Let’s talk about some of them one by one.

Thunderstorm Consequences

First of all, thunderstorms – a deadly weather condition comes along with thunder and lightning on the hot summers when the atmospheric condition remains unstable.

Thunderstorms can be combined with tornadoes, hail, or any other extremities. However, solely this type of storm causes massive damage.

About 10% out of one hundred thousand thunderstorms in the U.S. effects at a severe level. Furthermore, about 16 million thunderstorms take place each year globally.

Lightning during a thunderstorm is the most dangerous event that solely affects fatalities and injury, forest fire, impact on aviation and other modes of transportation, damaging wind turbines, etc.

Tornadoes Extreme Weather Effects

Tornado—a storm that seems like a funnel is a deadly rotating wind usually extending from a cumulonimbus cloud.

“According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), there are about 1,180 tornadoes until mid-October 2020, which is lesser than in 2019”.

According to a study in Marion, Illinois, it came to know that about 50% of injuries regarding tornadoes take place during post-tornado events like cleanup and rescue.

Besides injury by falling of enormous objects, tornadoes further cause a drastic loss in communities by damage to electrical systems, gas lines, or power lines. This results in electrocution and explosion like deadly situations.

Hail Storm Consequences

Hail is a type of precipitation that generally brings rounded or jagged pieces of ice (solid) to the ground along with a storm.

Asian countries like India and China experience more hail storms at the beginning of the monsoon season.

Further, the great plain regions of Canada and the U.S., also known as the area of hail storms and named “hail alley.”

The consequences of this type of extreme weather cause destruction of crops, buildings, vehicles, and sometimes loss of lives.

An excellent instance of a deadly hail storm includes a storm with hail in Moradabad, India, in 1988. At that time, about 250 people had lost their lives due to the effects.

Blizzards Consequences

Blizzard is a type of extreme weather, specifically a snowstorm, which results in heavy snowfall, low atmospheric temperature, and intense wind movement.

At the time of such severe storms, the rate of airflow is usually 35 miles per hour.

The significant effects of blizzards include increased car accidents, and further, the low temperature in the atmosphere causes snowbite or hypothermia.

An example of such extreme weather includes a blizzard in March 1993, which expanded from Canada to mid-America, causing 10 million power outages along with about 300 deaths.

Dust storm Consequences

In Arid and semi-arid areas, a strong wind rises into an extreme storm, which brings a considerable quantity of fine dust particles, causing the loss of soil on dry land is known as a dust storm or sandstorm.

Strong pressure gradients with cyclones or thunderstorms are the primary causes behind these severe conditions.

Dust or sand storms seems a minor case; however, this can cause critical illness. Dust or sand particles of size 10 Micrometer or more results in skin and eye irritations, increased susceptibility to eye infection, and much more.

Relatively smaller size Particles can be captured by the nose and cause diseases related to the respiratory tract.

Various other health issues are also associated with dust storms.

Some agricultural effects of sandstorms include loss of plant tissues, soil erosion, reduced phosphorylation, etc. A massive quantity of deposition can result in water quality loss and blockage of transportation routes and canals.

Conclusion of Extreme Weather Consequences

We enjoy some kind of weather and climatic conditions; however, extreme weather, as discussed above, can bring eternal consequences.

Most of those severe atmospheric conditions are due to increased human activities, and thus we can categorize them into human-made destruction’s.

Our government is working to prevent such calamities from reducing the extent of social, agricultural, and economic damages.

Furthermore, several rescue services and control measures are also taken to save lives as much as possible.

Preparation before the extreme condition is the only way to reduce the extent of the loss.

So, this is all about the effects of extreme weather, and we hope this is helpful to you. For further queries, comment down below. Follow us for more such useful content.

Causes of Extreme Weather

Table of Contents

What is Extreme Weather?

When the weather conditions show significant differences than the usual weather, this is termed as extreme weather or severe weather. The extreme weather conditions may last for a while or sometimes it may take just one or two days to become normal. For example- heatwaves, hurricanes, flash floods, etc.

As we know that the world’s weather has been warmed to quite huge degrees from the past few decades. This warmed weather is playing a significant role as one of the major causes of extreme weather events across the world. Heatwaves and droughts are quite common extreme weather events that most people experience due to change in climatic conditions. Most of the causes of climate change are human-induced that has increased the strength of some of the extreme weather events.

There are a lot many incidents caused due to extreme weather. Most of these incidents are caused by man-made causes directly or indirectly. Let’s discuss the causes of extreme weather events to know the extreme weather little more in detail.

What are the major causes of extreme weather?

Extreme Temperature

Extreme temperature is one of the major causes of severe weather. The temperature of the Earth is rising every year. Increasing temperature and extreme sunshine on top of it creates a low-pressure system. Due to which the hurricanes and other tropical storms get its way to start.

High atmospheric winds

Have you heard about the term “Jet Stream”? Well, the jet stream plays an important role in the weather pattern worldwide. It also contributes to meteorologists forecast weather on the basis of their position.

The jet stream is found where the cold air from Earth’s poles meets with warm tropical air. These winds help to continue and control the weather system from west to east in the northern hemisphere and from east to west in the southern hemisphere. Sometimes these winds bring unpleasant weather with them which may lead to the formation of a tornado.

Where pressure systems meet

When too cold high-pressure systems meet with too warm low-pressure systems, the chances of extremely high waves on sea surface increases. The too cold high-pressure systems originate from sub-polar land whereas too warm low-pressure systems originate from temperate seas.

Sharp changes in the altitudes

You must have studied that when air goes higher, it gets colder. A very good example can be seen in the North American West Coast. If you visit Vancouver, Seattle, Portland or Los Angeles, you will find pleasant lovely weather over there as the warm pacific air makes it a beautiful visiting place. When this air reaches up on mountains, you will find there ten feet heavy snow.

This is how the steep altitude changes create a difference in the weather conditions. This is a pretty good example to understand the change of weather with a sharp change in the altitudes i.e. how the air changes the weather from low altitude to higher altitude.

Improper weather systems

The weather systems keep on moving in a proper way which helps to maintain the weather conditions in a smoother way. When the weather conditions come across any disturbance in between it creates disasters. A very good example was seen in 1998 when cold arctic air came in contact with warm air from the Southern United States. The meeting of the cold and warm wind caused an ice storm.

Generally this kind of weather condition lasts for a few hours but unfortunately this time it was a huge extreme weather event. It took almost three days to calm down to normal weather conditions. Due to the high-frequency ice storm, most of the electric lines were collapsed that took a bit longer period to get normal.

Climate change contributes to extreme weather

There is no doubt that the world’s climate has been changed on higher notes. The world temperature has increased quite high from the past few decades and even keeps on changing year after year. One of the big reasons for the increase in Earth’s temperature is the level of CO2. As the CO2 is increasing in the atmosphere, the temperature of the Earth is also increasing simultaneously.

Just go back to history for a while then you will find some of the severe weather events have become quite frequent. For example – Since the 1970s, the high-intensity Atlantic hurricanes are increasing in numbers. Since 1950, heatwaves and droughts have become quite common extreme weather events.

The level of greenhouse gases is increasing in the atmosphere day by day that traps heat in the air causing a rise in the temperature. The relatively warm atmosphere absorbs more water vapor which may lead to flood or drought in some areas.

All these events have made a perception in people’s minds that climate change is also a big reason for extreme weather events to occur. However, according to climatologists, it is very hard to make out the exact role of climate change is causing extreme weather events.

Global warming also influence extreme weather events

As the world temperature is increasing due to global warming simultaneously the effects of it are also increasing. Global warming is contributing to intensifying heatwaves. Warm air also influences evaporation which may also worsen the conditions of drought. Extreme drought conditions lead to dry field and forest that increases the chances of a forest fire.

Global warming also boosts the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere which may lead to causes of severe weather like heavy rainfall, heavy snowstorm, etc. Extreme warm and moist atmosphere over sea surface may also cause intense hurricanes.

There are other many causes of extreme weather events. Some of these causes are influenced by natural reasons, whereas some others are human-induced like global warming and climate change. All these causes are changing the pattern of weather conditions to extremity across the globe.

If we can take some necessary steps to deal with global warming and climate change, we will be helping to control severe weather in an indirect way. For this, we all need to understand our responsibilities towards our planet to save mother Earth.

Extreme Weather on Earth

Students use prior knowledge, a photo gallery, and a video to discuss what they already know about extreme weather on Earth and brainstorm and categorize a list of weather-related words and phrases. Then they identify the necessary conditions for weather events to occur, and the factors that affect extreme weather. Students organize information about weather events and conditions, identify patterns, and make connections between weather and climate.

Earth Science, Meteorology

8 Images, 1 Video, 1 PDF

1. Activate students’ prior knowledge about extreme weather on Earth.
Ask: What do you know about extreme weather on Earth? Have students brainstorm a list of weather-related words and phrases. Write their responses on the board. Then ask students to sort the list into logical categories, such as types of weather, tools to measure weather, and effects of weather.

2. Discuss a photo gallery of extreme weather.
Tell students they will look at a photo gallery of extreme weather and then watch a video about weather. Display the photo gallery Extreme Weather. Invite volunteers to read aloud each caption. Then, show the National Geographic video “Weather 101.” Ask students to describe the extreme weather events. Then ask: What are the necessary conditions for each weather event to occur? Elicit responses from students such as: differences in circulating air masses, clashing warm and cool air masses (fronts), and jet streams. Ask: What are the factors that affect extreme weather? Elicit responses from students such as: the sun (temperature), water (precipitation), and other atmospheric conditions like jet stream, pressure, wind, humidity, and clouds.

3. Have students complete the worksheet Weather Investigation.
Distribute a copy of the worksheet Weather Investigation to each student. Read aloud the directions and go over the provided answer. Allow students to gather and organize the information they have learned about weather and atmospheric conditions present for each type of weather. Their answers should include the following:

After students have completed the worksheet, ask: What patterns do you see?

4. Have students make connections between weather and climate.
Ask: What is climate? How does climate relate to weather? Some students may understand that the climate in areas closer to the Equator has fewer extremes than in the areas farther away from the Equator. Make sure students understand that the term weather describes conditions in the atmosphere over a short period of time. The term climate describes weather patterns of a particular region over a longer period, usually 30 years or more. Climate is an average pattern of weather for a particular region. Build background by providing the following example: The weather in Wisconsin can vary from day to day. Some days can be very warm, with record temperatures over 100˚Fahrenheit (F), with other summer days not even reaching 70˚F. Winter temperatures can vary just as much. The climate however, is a trend over an extended period of time. Temperature trends in the Midwest show an overall warming of between 0.3˚F to 1.8˚F from data collected during the period of 1895-2006.

Informal Assessment

Ask students to orally describe: