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    Wild Weather

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    Irina Castillo
    Extreme weather events like heavy rainfall, droughts, heat waves, and storms have become more frequent in recent decades. These events have had devastating impacts, such as landslides that killed hundreds in Rio de Janeiro after 28 centimeters of rain fell in 24 hours. While natural climate cycles influence weather, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are warming the atmosphere and oceans. A warmer climate holds more water vapor in the air, fueling more extreme rainfall and storms. Climate scientists believe we must address human-driven climate change to save lives and money impacted by increasingly severe weather.

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    Wild Weather

    Uploaded by

    Irina Castillo
    21 views1 page
    Extreme weather events like heavy rainfall, droughts, heat waves, and storms have become more frequent in recent decades. These events have had devastating impacts, such as landslides that killed hundreds in Rio de Janeiro after 28 centimeters of rain fell in 24 hours. While natural climate cycles influence weather, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are warming the atmosphere and oceans. A warmer climate holds more water vapor in the air, fueling more extreme rainfall and storms. Climate scientists believe we must address human-driven climate change to save lives and money impacted by increasingly severe weather.

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    Wild weather

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    Extreme weather events like heavy rainfall, droughts, heat waves, and storms have become more frequent in recent decades. These events have had devastating impacts, such as landslides that killed hundreds in Rio de Janeiro after 28 centimeters of rain fell in 24 hours. While natural climate cycles influence weather, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are warming the atmosphere and oceans. A warmer climate holds more water vapor in the air, fueling more extreme rainfall and storms. Climate scientists believe we must address human-driven climate change to save lives and money impacted by increasingly severe weather.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    21 views1 page

    Wild Weather

    Uploaded by

    Irina Castillo
    Extreme weather events like heavy rainfall, droughts, heat waves, and storms have become more frequent in recent decades. These events have had devastating impacts, such as landslides that killed hundreds in Rio de Janeiro after 28 centimeters of rain fell in 24 hours. While natural climate cycles influence weather, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are warming the atmosphere and oceans. A warmer climate holds more water vapor in the air, fueling more extreme rainfall and storms. Climate scientists believe we must address human-driven climate change to save lives and money impacted by increasingly severe weather.

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    of 1

    Wild weather

    What is happening to our weather?

    What is ‘extreme’ weather? Why are people talking about it these days? ‘Extreme’ weather is very unusual
    rain, heat, storms etc. For example, in 2010, 33 centimetres of rain fell in two days on Nashville, USA.
    According to weather experts, that was a ‘once in 1000 years’ event. But these days, extreme weather
    events are more frequent. Also in 2010, 28 centimetres of rain fell on Rio de Janeiro in 24 hours, and there
    was record rainfall in Pakistan.

    The effects of this kind of rain are dramatic. In Rio de Janeiro, landslides followed the rain. Hundreds of
    people died. In Pakistan, it caused floods that affected 20 million people. The opposite situation is drought,
    when no rain falls. Australia, Russia and East Africa have suffered major droughts in the last ten years.
    Another example of extreme weather is a heat wave, such as in the summer of 2003. In Europe, 35,000
    people died from heat-related problems.

    So, what is happening? Are these extreme events part of a natural cycle? Are they happening because
    human activity affects the Earth’s climate? The answer, Peter Miller says, is: probably a mixture of both of
    these things. On the one hand, the most important influences on weather events are natural cycles in the
    climate. Two of the most famous cycles are called El Niño and La Niña. They start in the Pacific Ocean, but
    they affect weather all around the world. On the other hand, the Earth’s oceans are changing: their
    temperatures are increasing. And this is a result of human activity. The greenhouse gases we produce
    mean the atmosphere warms up. Warmer oceans produce more water vapour – think about what happens
    when you heat a pan of water in your kitchen. Information from satellites tells us that there is four percent
    more water vapour in the atmosphere than 25 years ago. This warm, wet air turns into rain, storms,
    hurricanes and typhoons.

    Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist, says that we need to accept reality. Our weather is changing and
    we need to act to save lives and money.

    Keywords

    o atmosphere (n) the air around the Earth


    o climate (n) the general weather conditions that are typical of a place
    o drought (n) a long period of time without rain
    o event (n) something that happens, especially something important or unusual
    o flood (n) a large amount of water that covers land that is usually dry
    o heat wave (n) a period of time when the weather is much hotter than usual
    o hurricane (n) an extremely violent wind or storm, from the Atlantic Ocean
    o landslide (n) a large amount of soil or rock that moves down a mountain
    o major (adj) more important, serious, or significant than other events or situations of the same type
    o rainfall (n) the amount of rain that falls
    o typhoon (n) an extremely violent storm of wind or rain, from the South Pacific or Indian Ocean
    o water vapour (n) water when it is in the form of gas

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