Table of Contents
We’re all hearing more and more about the current weather situation and climate change these days. However, many of us don’t understand how this related directly to climate change – which is why we’re looking today at how the current weather situation is being influenced by climate change and what this might mean for your own way of life. But remember: there are ways we can all help reverse climate change, and making small changes can be a good way to reduce your own contributions to the climate change crisis.
How Climate Change is Driving the Current Weather Situation Globally
Climate change is changing the way we live and work, in many cases – often without us realizing it. Indeed, the current weather situation is rapidly becoming more and more severe.
We’ve known about the potential between climate change and the current weather situation for around two decades. However, it’s only recently that this appears to have gained momentum and become more widely accepted. As such, recent research has been undertaken to determine how much damage is being done by climate change. Moreover, these studies have growingly focused on whether it is possible to reverse this trend.
What Constitutes an Extreme Weather Event?
Before we can go further, we first need to define what an extreme weather event actually is. An extreme weather event, by its nature, is an incredibly powerful and strong weather event, typically one that occurs outside of the normally expected weather conditions at the time or in the region.
Typically, extreme weather events correlate with extreme damage and destruction. However, they may vary from region to region depending on the expected weather conditions.
How Many Extreme Weather Events Have Occurred on Record?
Since records began, the world has seen a predicted 504 extreme weather events. These events vary significantly in their severity, of course, but the research appears to suggest that there is a strong correlation between the severity of such weather situations and climate change.
Over the past decade, the majority of extreme weather events studies have included heat waves, droughts, rain and flooding, wildfires, storms (such as cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons), and extreme cold. However, additional events may also constitute extreme weather conditions, such as coral bleaching and river flows.
Changes to the current weather situation aren’t just occurring for developed countries, which typically contribute the largest amount of carbon emissions, leading to climate change. In fact, the current weather situation is being seen at an increasingly regular rate around the world, causing a growing number of nations to face difficulties, challenges, and concerns in regard to their weather conditions and how to handle such matters.
Fortunately, many communities are putting measures in place to reduce the impact of extreme weather events on their infrastructure. Some such steps include investing in new barricades for water flooding, new air conditioning systems for extreme heatwaves, water-saving systems to cope with droughts, and the like.
How Human Activities Have Influenced the Current Weather Situation
According to research by Carbon Brief, over two-thirds of all extreme weather events result from human activities and climate change. Moreover, only around 11% of all recent extreme events have occurred without any discernable human influence.
The most significantly impacted type of event is extreme heat, for which approximately 93% have worsened due to human activities. Thereafter, almost two-thirds of drought events have also worsened due to climate change, and just over half of heavy rainfalls and flooding events have also gotten more severe due to human activities.
However, it’s not all bad news, showing that there is still the potential for us to reverse and potentially even fix the damage to extreme weather conditions. Indeed, approximately 9% of extreme weather events were actually less severe thanks to human interactions; therefore, it remains possible for the current weather situation to be rectified with changes to the climate change situation and the ongoing goals toward net-zero emissions.
