Many people wonder if the earth’s climate has become more extreme in recent years. People ask themselves: “Was last summer really the hottest ever in the West? Were the floods in the spring unprecedented?” The answer to these kinds of questions would be an unqualified “no.” After all, at one time a glacier sat on Chicago’s doorstep; at another time palm trees grew in northern Canada. A more relevant question to ask ourselves is whether recent extreme weather was the worst in recorded history. It’s the recorded history of the past century or two that provides a benchmark against which we measure what happens today.
Scientists, of course, have many ways of estimating the earth’s temperature and climate in past millennia, including dendrology and the study of ice cores and ocean sediments. What they can’t do is provide details of specific extreme weather events in eons past.
Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book
by Christopher C. Burt
The ultimate weather book for the weather enthusiast or anyone interested in the oddities and extremes of nature.
Is the climate really becoming more extreme as a result of climate change? We often hear on the news that the day was the hottest, coldest, wettest, or snowiest on record. Recent evidence suggests that aspects of the climate are indeed becoming more extreme. Will the extraordinary hurricane season of 2005 and the record heat waves of 2006 become more common? The facts are in this book, including a detailed analysis of extreme weather trends in the United States going back to the nineteenth century. Also included are historical examples of some of the more bizarre weather events observed: heat bursts, electrified dust storms, snow rollers, pink snowstorms, luminous tornadoes, falls of fish and toads, ball lighting, super bolts, and other strange meteorological events.