Right now, across much of the United States, it’s hot. Temperatures are reaching close to 100˚F (about 38˚C) from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina.
It’s enough to make a guy skip work and run through some sprinklers. And it leaves many people, like children and the elderly, vulnerable to serious health problems.
It also raises the inevitable question: What does this have to do with climate change?
A lot of articles that talk about this subject tend to get nerdy and scientific. So we’re going to try to keep it as simple as possible:
The short answer is that no single weather event can be tied to climate change. On a day-to-day or even month-to-month basis, weather is fickle. Think of it like the Katy Perry song: It’s hot, then it’s cold. So we can’t say that this current heat wave is caused by climate change (or that a long cold spell disproves climate change).
Climate change does, though, increase the chances that we’ll have more heat waves in the future. Basically, it adds a line to the Katy Perry song’s lyrics: It’s hot, then it’s cold … but it’s hot more often. (That’s borne out by looking at the ratio of record high temperatures to record low temperatures in the U.S., which continues to grow.)
As one scientist told the Christian Science Monitor: “You can’t say any one heat wave is caused by global warming. But you can say that what global warming does is (make) events just like this more likely.”
And that’s about it. Hope that helps you understand the issue or explain it to your friends.
Don’t like the heat? Check out what Team Earth is doing to fight climate change – and pledge to take simple, sustainable actions that will put you on the team.
Most importantly, if you’re in the middle of this heat wave, be safe. Stay where it’s cool, drink plenty of fluids, and check out some tips for avoiding heat stroke.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jz909/ | via Creative Commons
