Many places throughout the world experience droughts and heat waves. While the two are not always related, they sometimes go hand in hand. These weather patterns can result in decreased agricultural yields as well as loss of plant, animal, and human life. This book introduces readers to essential concepts from the Next Generation Science Standards. Primary sources and striking full-color images show readers just how much devastation droughts and heat waves can cause.
Conditions on Earth are becoming more and more extreme and kids want to learn about it! Is it true that heat waves can make roads break apart? Yes! When it’s extra hot, the materials that roads are made of will swell and start to crack. INSIDE, YOU LL FIND: • How heat waves and droughts happen, why they happen, and an account of the most devastating ones in recent history; • A hands-on activity, a timeline, photos, diagrams—and what you can do if a heat wave or drought happens; • Surprising TRUE facts that will shock and amaze you! This new set in the ongoing A TRUE BOOK series will answer all of kids' questions about nature's most dangerous and destructive disasters! With an engaging layout, and spectacular photos, illustrations, diagrams and infographics, the past, present and future of extreme phenomenon happening on Earth will be explained. Readers will discover causes and consequences, as well as the cutting-edge science developed through the centuries to forecast them. First-hand accounts will bring science to life, and a special section will teach kids how to prepare for these extreme events.
Long periods of sweltering weather can scorch crops, cause widespread famine, and kill animals and people. This book explores how heat affects the human body, how long periods of hot weather occur, and how to stay safe during times of extreme heat or lack of water.
"We cannot prevent heat waves or droughts, but we can try to minimize their impact on humans. This important book examines what scientists know about extreme heat events, whether we can predict them, and how we learn from each one. By studying the harm they cause, scientists and engineers continue to come up with new and improved technologies to predict extreme weather and make cities, buildings, and people safer. Case studies and brief bios of key scientists and organizations highlight the information"--
This book could save your life! The No-Nonsense Guide To Heat Wave, Drought,& Hot Weather Safety--Enhanced Edition is the re-edited guide focusing on preparation and planning for natural (and man-made) disasters. This guide is designed to provide a comprehensive source for the latest research related to hot-weather safety. Subjects covered include: providing a basic understanding of hot weather and its effects on the human body; addressing long-held myths on what helps to stay cool (and what doesn't); the effects of droughts and heat waves; how to be proactive in preparing for hot weather; water-saving strategies; providing sound advice by government & weather professionals/researchers on the best courses of action during hot-weather events. This manual also contains several updated appendices that include: a list of useful weather-warning smartphone and computer apps, a guide to specific types of sunburns, and several other relevant hot-weather topics, and a larger size.
Climate Change: Evidence and Causes is a jointly produced publication of The US National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. Written by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists and reviewed by climate scientists and others, the publication is intended as a brief, readable reference document for decision makers, policy makers, educators, and other individuals seeking authoritative information on the some of the questions that continue to be asked. Climate Change makes clear what is well-established and where understanding is still developing. It echoes and builds upon the long history of climate-related work from both national academies, as well as on the newest climate-change assessment from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It touches on current areas of active debate and ongoing research, such as the link between ocean heat content and the rate of warming.
From leading climate scientist Dr. Friederike Otto, this gripping book reveals the revolutionary science that definitively links extreme weather events—including deadly heat waves, forest fires, floods, and hurricanes—to climate change. “Meet the forensic scientists of climate change; if you like CSI, you’ll be equally enthralled with the skill and speed these folks exhibit. But the stakes are infinitely higher!” —Bill McKibben, author of Falter and The End of Nature Tied with Hurricane Katrina as the costliest cyclone on record, Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding and over a hundred deaths in 2017. Angry Weather tells the compelling, day-by-day story of the World Weather Attribution unit—a team of scientists that studies extreme weather events while they’re happening—and their race to track the connection between the hurricane and climate change. As the hurricane unfolds, Otto reveals how attribution science works in real time, and determines that Harvey’s terrifying floods were three times more likely to occur due to human-induced climate change. At the forefront of cutting-edge climate science, Friederike Otto uncovers how the new ability to determine climate change’s role in extreme weather events can dramatically transform how we view the climate crisis: from how it will affect those of us who are most vulnerable, to the corporations and governments that may find themselves held accountable in the courts. The research laid out in Angry Weather will have profound impacts, both today and for the future of humankind. Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.
As climate has warmed over recent years, a new pattern of more frequent and more intense weather events has unfolded across the globe. Climate models simulate such changes in extreme events, and some of the reasons for the changes are well understood. Warming increases the likelihood of extremely hot days and nights, favors increased atmospheric moisture that may result in more frequent heavy rainfall and snowfall, and leads to evaporation that can exacerbate droughts. Even with evidence of these broad trends, scientists cautioned in the past that individual weather events couldn't be attributed to climate change. Now, with advances in understanding the climate science behind extreme events and the science of extreme event attribution, such blanket statements may not be accurate. The relatively young science of extreme event attribution seeks to tease out the influence of human-cause climate change from other factors, such as natural sources of variability like El Niño, as contributors to individual extreme events. Event attribution can answer questions about how much climate change influenced the probability or intensity of a specific type of weather event. As event attribution capabilities improve, they could help inform choices about assessing and managing risk, and in guiding climate adaptation strategies. This report examines the current state of science of extreme weather attribution, and identifies ways to move the science forward to improve attribution capabilities.