“Troubles never come singly.”

                             An early 14th century saying

A new NASA study shows that the old saying above is becoming increasingly true of climate troubles in a warmer world. The study shows that extreme weather events, such as floods and heat waves, will increasingly cluster closer in time and space, heightening the risks of crop failures, wildfires and other potentially hazardous events. Are the words “climate” and “weather” synonymous? Just to clear the air …

Weather is a specific event – like a rainstorm or hot day – that happens over a few hours, days or weeks. Climate is the average weather conditions in a place over 30 years or more; i.e. climate is the long-term state of the atmosphere at a particular location – in a sense, the “average weather” over a long period of time. Climate varies significantly around the globe and not randomly.

The last Ice Age (the Last Glacial Maximum) was about 22,000 years ago. Glaciers covered much of Europe and North America. The polar ice caps were fed by precipitation from ocean waters. As the earth’s temperatures dropped, they thickened and expanded over thousands of years, causing global sea levels to drop 400 feet below their current level.

Fast forward to the present. Now in an interglacial period – the time period between Ice Ages – the Earth is about 9 degrees warmer today than it was then and, after centuries of stability, global sea levels are rising again. The past century alone has seen global temperatures increase by 2 degrees and the average global sea level over the past several decades has risen. Normal?

There are two possible culprits here: one is Mother Nature and the other is human … or could it be a fluctuation and combination of both?

Not a day goes by without hearing something in the news pertaining to global climate change, mostly global warming. Something is going on and we still don’t know exactly what it may be. One key thing to remember about global warming is to recognize that the warming pattern, if it continues, will probably not be uniform. The term “global warming” only tells part of the story; our attention should be focused on “global climate change,” which is caused by global warming. Most locations will warm while a few others may cool. These changes, coupled with accompanying shifts in rainfall patterns, could concerningly alter agricultural regions across the planet. The cause is of lesser importance than keeping Earth a healthy place to live.

Mother’s Day is a transitional day as a shift is underway; warm mild weather ends the week while an Alaskan low brings in the new week. A 20-degree temperature change is predicted including a spring shower or two!