Weather is the quintessential Canadian story. Despite it's characterization in the rest of the world as a land of bush and blizzards, Canada is a country of geographical and climatic variations. It experiences just about every type of extreme weather possible - tornadoes, droughts, dust storms, ice storms, hail storms, hurricanes, floods - in addition to lots of snowstorms. The weather is rarely boring and there are times when it has been so extreme, it has surprised everyone.
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.
Explores some of the United States most severe or unusual weather systems, including electrified dust storms, pink snowstorms, luminous tornadoes, ball lightning, and falls of fish and toads.
The term extreme weather normally conjures up thoughts of massive storms or heat waves or overtly cold temperatures. These are all examples of what we might consider as weather events that occur out of the ordinary or what is regarded as the normal pattern of calm, heat, cold, dry, or wet conditions for one season of the year or another. The point is that if we consider an oscillation of data points in a weather pattern and plot a mean through it, extreme weather can be observed as a perturbation in a distribution of climatic events over time. These events may be short-lived, such as a wind gust occurrence, or of longer duration, such as heavy rain leading to flooding. Importantly, once initiated, a perturbation event has an associated consequence, which usually requires human intervention to rectify the event’s consequences.
This edited book assesses the impacts of various extreme weather events on human health and development from a global perspective, and includes several case studies in various geographical regions around the globe. Covering all continents, it describes the impact of extreme weather conditions such as flash floods, heatwaves, cold waves, droughts, forest fires, strong winds and storms in both developing and developed countries. The contributing authors also investigate the spread of diseases and the risk to food security caused by drought and flooding. Further, the book discusses the economic damage resulting from natural disasters including hurricanes. It has been estimated that in 2017 natural disasters and climate change resulted in economic losses of 309 billion US dollars. Scientists also predict that if nothing is done to curb the effects of climate change, in Europe the death toll due to weather disasters could rise 50-fold by the end of the 21st century, with extreme heat alone causing more than 150,000 deaths a year, as the report on global warming of 1.5°C warns that China, Russia and Canada’s current climate policies would steer the world above a catastrophic 5°C of warming by the end of 2100. As such, the book highlights how the wellbeing of different populations is threatened by extreme events now and in the foreseeable future.
In the wake of every killer hurricane, devastating wild fire, severe drought, or once-in-a-century flooding event, it has become commonplace for scientists, politicians, and ordinary citizens to debate whether or not these severe weather events can be tied directly to climate change and global warming. The scientific consensus generally indicates that we are beginning to see upticks in extreme weather due to warming and the resulting shift in weather patterns. Certain politicians, business interests, and energy executives, however, forcefully reject such connections as unproven and speculative. Where does the truth lie? This anthology collects the strongest viewpoints from across the ideological spectrum and the globe and allows readers to evaluate the arguments and evidence for themselves before forming an educated opinion.
A passionate and meticulously researched argument against the Harper government's war on science In this arresting and passionately argued indictment, award-winning journalist Chris Turner contends that Stephen Harper's attack on basic science, science communication, environmental regulations, and the environmental NGO community is the most vicious assault ever waged by a Canadian government on the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment. From the closure of Arctic research stations as oil drilling begins in the High Arctic to slashed research budgets in agriculture, dramatic changes to the nation's fisheries policy, and the muzzling of government scientists, Harper's government has effectively dismantled Canada's long-standing scientific tradition. Drawing on interviews with scientists whose work has been halted by budget cuts and their colleagues in an NGO community increasingly treated as an enemy of the state, The War on Science paints a vivid and damning portrait of a government that has abandoned environmental stewardship and severed a nation.
This volume presents a unique interdisciplinary approach, drawing on expertise in both the natural and social sciences. A primary goal is to present a scientific and socially integrated perspective on place-based community engagement, extreme weather, and health. Each year extreme weather is leading to natural disasters around the world and exerting huge social and health costs. The International Monetary Fund (2012) estimates that since 2010, 700 worldwide natural disasters have affected more than 450 million people around the globe. The best coping strategy for extreme weather and environmental change is a strong offense. Communities armed with a spatial understanding of their resources, risks, strengths, weaknesses, community capabilities, and social networks will have the best chance of reducing losses and achieving a better outcome when extreme weather and disaster strikes.
A unique interdisciplinary approach to disaster risk research, including global hazards and case-studies, for researchers, graduate students and professionals.
Written by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Rapporteur of Weather and Climate Extremes, this book addresses the reality of extreme weather—how it occurs, how we measure it, and what it means for our future. Weather affects everybody, and with the increasing impact of climate change and the prevalence of storms, droughts and floods, it is clear that we are affecting all aspects of weather. Consequently, people love to talk about weather, complain about it, argue about it—and be intrigued by it. Twenty-four/seven coverage of the weather, however, has helped foster a tendency for marked overstatement—the creation of misconceptions, exaggerations and, frankly, even outright lies. Leading expert in weather and climate, Randy Cerveny, draws on his extensive experience with the WMO and personal research to give the reader a behind-the-scenes look at how weather and climate extremes are recorded and defined. He unpacks the science behind these extremes through a number of specific WMO investigations that span a diverse range of countries and weather events, including lightning, rain, hurricanes and tornadoes. Cerveny balances these factual accounts with playful interludes that detail bizarre and intriguing weather-related stories and anecdotes. This compelling book is a must read for all those interested in the science behind extreme weather.
