Puzzled by 'global weirding'? Watch these videos
- 19 Apr 2012, 13:21
- Verity Payne
It has been
widely
reported that the US and UK have both experienced some unusual
weather over the last couple of years. This has included a couple
of remarkably
cold and
snowy winters, last year's deadly
spate of record-breaking US tornados, and both the
US and UK
experiencing record-breaking March temperatures. It's worth noting
however that globally, last year was the 16th warmest on
record, which is nothing special in the context of the last
decade.
It's perhaps no wonder that over two-thirds of Americans reckon
global warming made recent extreme weather events worse, and most
say they have experienced an extreme weather event in the last
year, according to a new
poll.
But while the public seem relatively convinced that this 'global
weirding' (as it has become
known in some circles) is related to global warming, the
scientists researching the subject take a
decidedly more nuanced stance. As the
IPCC's special report into extreme weather puts it,
"[a]ttribution of single extreme events to anthropogenic climate
change is challenging." Incidentally, the warm US spring has
already been labelled '
more freak occurrence than global warming' by climatologist
Marty Hoerling.
With this discussion going on, it seems like a good time to post
these two informative videos from Yale Forum on
Climate Change and the Media and Peter Sinclair of Climate Crocks.
The first video discusses how climate change might impact
tornados. In short, as we have discussed in
this blog, tornado experts are just not yet sure whether
tornados are likely to increase as the world warms. The second
video focuses on the cold US and UK winters, and how that might be
related to warming in the Arctic and the shifting jet stream, as we
have discussed
here.