Is it global climactic change that's rocking the midwest right now?

Question

I live in Indiana, and I was made aware by my A.P. Environmental Science teacher that "global warming" is not necessarily going to make the planet warmer, but, rather, would result in extreme weather patterns. Every day for the past week or so has had a pattern of extremely hot, then thunderstorms, extremely hot, then more thunderstorms. I've never seen anything like it.

Answer 1

You can't attribute any specific weather pattern to global warming, just changes in the long term means.  If you're looking for a culprit, La Nina has been associated in the past with severe weather outbreaks in the midwest.  But I'd hesitate to even blame it on La Nina, it's weather, outbreaks like this have happened before.

Answer 2

No, there is no scientific evidence that any weather pattern can be atributed to AGW. these are normal patterns in weather. If you go back in history, read about the dust bowl. That was a hard time.

Answer 3

Global warming increases the OVERALL global temperature. The temperature at any one place may increase or decrease. Extreme weather patterns are another potential problem with global warming, but an isolated incident like the one in our country right now (multiple 95 degree days in CT/ your stated problem) are natural occurrences and can be attributed to chance more than global warming.

Answer 4

Yes, it is global climate change rocking more than the Midwest and there is nothing natural about it. Weather is the interaction of water vapor, air pressure and temperature so changing the formula changes weather.

Solar radiation and the same UV that burn our skin is having a big effect on buildings and development. Solar interaction with building exteriors is causing the building to generate heat the building isn't designed or insulated for. We are reacting to the symptoms with more emissions and we aren't addressing the heat generated because it couldn't be seen.

Go to this link to see what the heat generation looks like beyond our visible spectrum. http://www.thermoguy.com/globalwarming-h...

Answer 5

And you're how old? 10, 20 THOUSAND, perhaps? Maybe you should take a AP course in Geology.

Answer 6

No. It takes more than a weekend's worth of data. Or a week or whatever. Climate change takes years to recognize as it's gradual. I doubt any temp. records were set but perhaps some precip. ones were.

I've seen the pattern you describe countless times. I think a certain condition in the Pacific Ocean, perhaps El Nino, causes periods of stagnation whereas areas of the Midwest are stuck in a repeating loop pattern for days at a time. It's nothing new though.

BTW- your teacher needs to go do some studying of their own. Global warming is by definition, global WARMING. Funny how that ties in eh? Though it doesn't mean everywhere it does mean collectively. The average temp. is rising. The frozen polar areas are melting. That cannot be denied. The reason is still speculation but the facts are undeniable. The planet is on a warming trend. It's probably a natural cycle but the depletion of the ozone layer does have scientific merit as a plausible catalyst.

Answer 7

pegminer hit this one on the head.

"Is it global climactic change that's rocking the midwest right now?"

I'm not quite sure this even makes sense...

Oh, and it's *climatic change* not climactic (though that would be interesting).

Answer 8

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