Whoa!
This is
Phrases like strongest storm on record,
worst flood in decades, and record breaking heat waves
are common in the news.
It feels like weather records are being broken all the time.
And I keep hearing that weather is getting more
and more extreme because of climate change.
But what exactly is extreme weather?
First off, what's the difference between the
terms extreme and severe?
Well, the term severe, as in severe storms,
is very specific.
For example, Environment Canada will issue a severe
thunderstorm warning when there is at least one
thunderstorm that produces hail large enough to cause damage,
heavy rain, and, or damaging wind is imminent.
Extreme weather is a term that can be used more freely.
It generally refers to any weather that is
unexpected, unusual, severe, out of season,
or is at the extremes of recorded weather history.
Hurricanes...
..Tornadoes...
..Floods...
..Droughts...
..Blizzards and wildfires,
are just some of the extreme weather events
that people have to deal with.
Storm chasers and meteorologists
such as Mark Robinson go into storms
to provide on-the-ground information.
Wow! This is going- It's just unbelievable
I wasn't expecting it to be this strong.
Robinson has been in a lot of extreme situations.
I've been through 23 hurricanes,
I- I've lost track of the number of tornadoes,
maybe 50 or 60, I've jumped into four volcanoes.
So are we experiencing more
severe and extreme weather because of climate change?
Well, Robinson says that just looking at one severe storm
can't prove climate change is affecting weather patterns,
but at the same time, one event can't disprove it.
So one off events, not great evidence either way.
But overall, when we put all these, these events
into a much larger data set, yes, we can absolutely use that
and sort of understand what's going on.
Scientists look at decades of information
to figure out trends and patterns
that match up with data that links the trends to
the planet warming.
Let's look at hurricanes as an example.
The scientific community overwhelmingly agrees that
the ocean has gotten warmer because of climate change.
Hurricanes are created over the ocean and are
fuelled by warm ocean waters and thunderstorms.
That's why hurricanes start to lose their power
as they hit land.
So more warm water means more fuel for hurricanes
and more fuel means it takes hurricanes longer to
run out of gas as they move inland.
As the ocean continues to warm,
regions that used to be fairly safe from hurricanes
might have to prepare for types of storms
they've never seen before.
Just watch the intensity of this storm increase hour by hour.
Okay, but where does that leave us humans?
As weather patterns change and become more severe,
people will have to adapt.
Many regions will have to update their
infrastructure to match new realities.
Infrastructure includes things like buildings, roads,
water works, power grids and all the things we build
to keep society running safely and smoothly.
If infrastructure isn't adapted, that can lead to disaster.
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waking up to snow, freezing temperatures and most
importantly, no power.
Like in Texas in February
of 2021, where a winter storm caused a surge in
electricity usage, causing a major power outage.
Who would think it would be storming in Texas?
Caden:
and they weren't prepared for people
turning on their heaters all at once.
The system blew out and millions of people were
left without power, some for up to three days.
246 people died, most of them from the cold.
Because the power grid just wasn't set up for
that kind of demand.
Around the world, weather disasters have forced
people from their homes to find safety.
For many, it's just temporary.
But for others, they may be displaced
for months or even years.
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in hotels for weeks, if not months.
It's stressful to leave a lot of stuff behind.
Our home, all our stuff, all our belongings.
Caden:
while others have to move even farther away to new countries.
Some advocates refer to people displaced
by environmental changes and natural disasters linked
to climate change as climate refugees.
According to the
International Displacement Monitoring Center,
the people who track these kinds of things worldwide,
an average of 21.8 million people are forcibly
displaced by weather related events every year.
To better understand what it means to be displaced,
we spoke to Kayly Ober from Refugees International.
The ability to overcome or the ability to even have
the choice to move is a privilege, right?
People who are the most vulnerable to climate change
and severe weather are people who are poor
and those who do not have good support from their
community and their government when disaster happens.
Now, all of this might sound really scary, but
the good news is that people are working on
tackling these problems.
You might have heard that parts of B.C. have been rocked
by extreme weather in recent years.
Well, in June of 2022, the B.C. government
announced that they will invest more than
$500 million over the next three years to ensure that
the province is prepared to adapt to climate change impacts.
And Canada's Federal Government is currently
working on their first ever National Strategy for
climate change adaptation.
And it's set to be released in the fall of 2022.
If you're feeling anxious about severe weather,
Robinson says, don't be.
Even with climate change, severe storms are still rare.
Of course, safety is no accident.
Talk to your family about setting up your own
emergency plan.
And just like every storm,
this
For
Creating this explainer took a lot of research.
Thank you to our two experts,
Mark Robinson
and Kayly Ober.
Some other resources include,
the
NASA
and