Weather fascinates most of us
Most folks are fascinated by weather. Over our long history as people on our planet the weather has always played an important role in where we live, how we shelter and what we eat. Weather has been responsible for the development and the destruction of civilizations. People simply vanished along with civilizations when conditions where no longer able to support life. As recently as the 13th Century, a whole civilization in our Desert Southwest simply vanished. Researchers have recently found evidence of a prolonged drought that plagued the area from 1276 until 1299. Little or no rain fell during this entire period and the drought is believed to be the reason for the loss of these people.
Millions of immigrants came to our own shores from the world over in search of a better life that often times included just having food to eat. The Irish famines in the 1840 killed a million from starvation and another million fled to American in search of food. My own family was part of that exodus and I am probably here today as a result of their efforts.
For the most part, the shores of America did offer the opportunity for agricultural production, shelter and a climate that was conducive to survival. In later years, farming practices probably did contribute to the misery of the Dust Bowl years and Mother Nature has not always been kind. Even today we are plagued with fires, floods and storms that have lot to do with our own activities of where we live and build our cities rather than the normal weather in these areas.
We somehow want to continue to build subdivision after subdivision in areas that, at best, get just a few inches of rain per year. It simply is foolhardy to continue to act as if this is all going to change and we will get back to more normal weather. There is a new normal developing and it includes the data from recent years that clearly shows we are headed for trouble. It蘑菇视频 important to remember that climate is what we expect to see and weather is what we actually experience. Normal weather or average weather is just a collection of the day to day events, but also includes the extremes and the extremes seem to be visiting more often. In recent years, the extremes seem to be having the upper hand and this poses serious problems for the future.
Fortunately, weather forecasts are getting better so as these extreme events unfold, we are usually in a better place to deal with them and most often get out of harm蘑菇视频 way. Many lives are spared today and just think if we were to adapt to our changing climate before the extreme event how many more could be spared.
In recent months, we have been writing about our changing climate and asking our leaders to at least have the discussion and begin to formulate a plan of action should the situation worsen. What do you think? Are we heading for trouble?