# Is climate changing or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 22, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128 "2014-10-22T08:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jameson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jameson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jameson)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/1 "2014-10-22T08:05:44Z")
Four Extreme Weather Changes and Why They’re Happening Now Ilissa Ocko, Environmental Defense Fund | October 21, 2014 02:15am ET If you think the weather’s acting strange, you’re correct. Extreme weather in the United States is trending upward according to a range of sources, from the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment to the American Meteorological Society. Human-caused climate change has already been blamed for much of it — most recently in connection with the California drought — but along with extreme weather , the United States is also getting extreme contrasts. What on Earth is going on when New York gets endless rain and San Francisco none, when one part of the country is freezing and another sees record heat? Rising temperatures have something to do with it — and here’s how. 1. Rain patterns are changing In the northeast United States, the combination of more moisture in the atmosphere from a warmer world and changes in circulation patterns are contributing to more rain. In the southwest, meanwhile, rainfall is being suppressed by a northward expansion of a subtropical dry zone. The same atmospheric phenomena that cause this dry zone are also behind the the extreme drought now plaguing California — A persistent high pressure system (clear and calm conditions) off of the U.S. west coast is deflecting storms away from the region. A recent study led by Stanford scientists and published in a Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society special report shows that this system is much more likely to occur in the northern Pacific Ocean with human-caused climate change. 1. Rain is more intense Heavy downpours are controlled by cloud mechanisms and moisture content, which are both changing as global temperatures rise. Clouds that can dump a lot of rain are more common in a warmer atmosphere. More evaporation has ledto more atmospheric moisture, which in turn can lead to more intense rainfall. That helps explain why the entire United States is experiencing more heavy downpours — even in the drought-stricken West. Full article and resources: > **[Four Extreme Weather Changes and Why They're Happening Now](https://www.livescience.com/48368-why-four-weather-extremes-are-happening-now.html)** > > As the global climate warms, weather extremes are being felt across the United States, from changing rain patterns and increasing rain intensity to severe droughts and flooding. [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2014/10/13/nasa-september-warmest-record/#.VEdk1yt1V0Q](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2014/10/13/nasa-september-warmest-record/#.VEdk1yt1V0Q) [http://www.scienceclarified.com/Di-El/Earth.html](http://www.scienceclarified.com/Di-El/Earth.html) > **[Earth's Atmosphere - Windows to the Universe](https://www.windows2universe.org?page=%2Fearth%2FAtmosphere%2Foverview.html)** > > The atmosphere is an important part of what makes Earth livable. Learn about atmosphere layers, weather, climate and more. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/2 "2014-10-22T08:14:58Z")
Is this a rhetorical question? The article is very clear that global climate IS warming and changes in extreme weather patterns are one of its observable effects. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/3 "2014-10-22T08:28:11Z")
No. 97% of all climatologists are conspiring against us. Because reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/4 "2014-10-22T08:48:46Z")
Of course climate is changing. Always has been. Always will be. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/5 "2014-10-22T10:37:07Z")
News story yesterday said this was Earth’s hottest September since records have been kept. Of course that could be coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/6 "2014-10-22T10:50:26Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > News story yesterday said this was Earth’s hottest September since records have been kept. Of course that could be coincidence. Where? Not here. Here, last winter was the coldest in 20 years, perhaps the coldest ever depending upon which source you use. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/7 "2014-10-22T12:43:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Where? Not here. Earth. Not Canada. Local conditions may vary. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/8 "2014-10-22T14:41:40Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Where? Not here. Wait, you don’t live on Earth? > [@](#): > > Here, last winter was the coldest in 20 years, perhaps the coldest ever depending upon which source you use. So the weather was extreme you say? ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/9 "2014-10-23T07:04:03Z")
We had a severe winter last winter here in the Southern Plains of North America. We are also just beginning to recover from severe drought. Droughts are fairly cyclical here, though. You may have heard about one in the 1930s. OP, if you really want to get into it, there’s a thread in the BBQ Pit forum from someone who is sick of global warming which you might want to look into for a bit more detail. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-climate-changing-or-not/702128/10 "2014-10-24T23:34:56Z")
If the climate is not changing, something is wrong. Come back in 50 years and we’ll have a better idea of how much and which direction it changed in the last 50 years, and for which areas.