The planet's climate is changing, and it's happening at an alarming rate. This past week, we've experienced cold waves with freezing temperatures, snowfall, and heavy rain. The United States had to declare a state of emergency due to extreme snowfall, strong winds, and very low temperatures. Meanwhile, Sydney, Australia, has recorded its warmest temperatures in 79 years.
What happens to these drastic changes in temperatures?
High and low temperatures
The first thing to clarify (for those who have questions or don't know yet) is that it's summer in the Southern Hemisphere right now. The inclination of the sun's rays falls at a lesser angle than in the Northern Hemisphere, so the sun heats up more. Although the Earth is closer to the sun than in summer, what really matters and determines temperatures is the inclination of the Earth's rays. If the sun's rays fall more perpendicular to the Earth, it will be hotter than if they fall more obliquely.
Now in winter, the sun's rays strike the Southern Hemisphere more directly and the Northern Hemisphere at a more oblique angle. However, despite this, the current Southern Hemisphere summer is experiencing abnormally high temperatures and catastrophic wildfires.
Sydney has recorded temperatures as high as 47,3 degrees Celsius, the highest in 79 years. Fire emergencies have also been declared across the metropolitan area. Last Sunday, all outdoor campfires were banned throughout the city to prevent the spread of wildfires. This is especially crucial in a country where climate change is having a significant impact. This situation is linked to the marked climatic variations currently being observed.
The goal of Sydney's security forces, like that every year in Australia, is to reduce the risk of forest fires, as the country is suffering serious consequences of loss of fertile soil due to the continuous erosion of soils caused by desertification.
That same Sunday, temperatures nearly surpassed the record set in the country in 1939, which reached 47,8 degrees Celsius. The temperatures in Penrith, a suburb west of Sydney, were confirmed by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Due to the fires, several properties in the states of Victoria and South Australia were destroyed. It is important to highlight that, during these extreme events, temperature records have also been broken in other parts of the world. Furthermore, there has been discussion about how these phenomena reflect the increasingly evident differences between places like Sydney and the United States.
New records are achieved
As early as September 2017, Australians were warned to prepare for a dangerous wildfire season due to one of the driest winters in Australian history and the expected high temperatures.
Between December 2016 and February 2017, more than 200 weather records were broken across Australia, triggering heat waves, bushfires, and floods throughout the summer. This phenomenon has led many to question the relationship between climate change and these extreme events, a question that has also been raised in other places, such as Germany.
Scientists claim that such high temperatures, including those at sea, are caused by climate change. Climate change is pushing normal weather conditions to the extreme and increasing the frequency of events such as cold waves, heat waves, droughts, and floods. This climate change is affecting not only Australia, but also places like
Even a French tennis player who was playing in a tournament match had to withdraw due to extreme heat. It is the first time in his entire career that he retires from a match.
At the other end of the world
The other end of the world has suffered just the opposite. While in Australia it is very hot and there are forest fires, in the United States a great wave of cold has taken place that has caused a severe storm and declared a state of emergency.
In some parts of the United States, temperatures have reached as low as -37 degrees Celsius. These types of extreme weather events are indicative of the marked climatic differences that exist. These events can also be compared to the effects that climate change is having on various regions around the world.
For the first time in 28 years, the state of Florida, one of the warmest on the East Coast, saw snow fall in the state capital, Tallahassee. This storm is called a meteorological bomb by scientists.
As you can see, the world is divided into two faces and the climate too.
