How can climate change affect the weather?
1 Answer
Climate change increases the amount of energy available in the atmosphere and this impacts many kinds of weather.
Explanation:
Climate change means that the Earth is getting warmer due to the greenhouse effect becoming stronger by the addition of extra greenhouse gases, like CO2, methane and N20. This means that there is more energy in the atmosphere and most weather events are related to energy in the atmosphere. It also means that the atmosphere can hold more moisture than normal.
Heat waves occur in most regions on a regular basis, but scientists are now very sure that with global warming/climate change the duration and intensity of heat waves will increase. Related to heat waves, long term droughts seem to also be increasing.
There is also evidence that thunderstorms and related heavy rains are becoming more frequent and more intense, leading to more flooding. The distribution of rainfall patterns also seem to be changing, with normally wet areas becoming wetter and dry areas becoming dryer.
However, some weather events, such as tornados, is one kind of weather phenomena that scientists are not sure will change much as the climate changes.
