You Tell Us: Is Global Warming Responsible for Extreme Weather?
Patch gives readers' a chance to sound off each week on controversial topics or to share some personal experiences around current events.
With recent severe weather events such as July's derecho striking the region, some scientists are pointing to global warming as the culprit.
According to a new report from the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center, extreme rainstorms and snowstorms are now occuring 30 percent more often nationwide than in 1948.
"As the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours—especially in recent years as bigger storms have hit Maryland more often," said Tommy Landers, director of Environment Maryland, in a statement. "We need to heed scientists’ warnings that this dangerous trend is linked to global warming and do everything we can to cut carbon pollution today."
In addition to the derecho, North Baltimore was also impacted by Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene in 2011.
Patch wants to know what you think of these findings. Do you believe global warming is causing these natural disasters?
Tell us in the comments.
D Keeling
6:31 am on Thursday, August 2, 2012
The vast majority of scientists tell us climate change is happening, even those (in effect) hired by deniers to disprove this. Yet articles like this suggest the topic is up for discussion. I anticipate there are still some loons out there that are convinced the Earth is flat... should we have a debate? I wonder at what stage the delaying tactics will cease, when all life is in imminent and obvious peril or sometime before.
John Ackley
12:21 pm on Thursday, August 2, 2012
Agreed.
ralahinn1
6:36 am on Thursday, August 2, 2012
God, and H.a.r.p. is
JA
8:14 am on Thursday, August 2, 2012
This article is horrible. Even as paid to say otherwise experts recant and acknowledge global climate change is real and man has raised the temperature of the earth over the past 50 years, Baltimore Patch is acting as if global climate change is a matter of public opinion.
Julie Burris
9:00 am on Thursday, August 2, 2012
The question is not "is human activity disrupting the climate?" The question is how quickly and how seriously we can move to slow the changes and prevent truly catastrophic temperature increases.
JenB
10:55 am on Thursday, August 2, 2012
Basically, it is proven. By scientists. Asking me what I believe doesn't matter.
The issue at hand is how we can clear out the elected representatives that get bribed by oil and gas companies to look the other way, or, worse, write books about how god will solve all our problems.
Daniel Ewald
12:50 pm on Thursday, August 2, 2012
“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.” 129,404 weather records in one year? You can’t point to any one weather extreme and say “that’s climate change”. But a warmer atmosphere loads the dice, increasing the potential for historic spikes in temperature and more frequent and bizarre weather extremes. You can’t prove that any one of Barry Bond’s 762 home runs was sparked by (alleged) steroid use. But it did increase his “base state,” raising the overall odds of hitting a home run. A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, more fuel for floods, while increased evaporation pushes other regions into drought.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/records/