Connect the Dots: Global Warming and Hurricane Sandy

CONNECT THE DOTS ,. Predicted Effects Resulting in. Evidence of Global Warming More active hurricanes Higher average surface sea temperatures (Sept. 2012 1.21° above 20th century average and cyclones (19 named storms in 2012); a longer tropical storm season and hurricanes survive longer and in Northern latitudes Extreme Weather Events like Hurricane Sandy and tied with historical high) That make it to Northern latitudes late in the season That are slow-moving Warmer Arctic air can create slower, wavy jet streams that block incoming weather systems for longer periods. Record loss of Arctic ice cover in the summer of 2012 results in warmer Arctic air (18% below 2007 and 49% below the 1979-2000 That, combined with a full moon, result in unprecedented flooding average) Who Has Connected the Dots? Insurance companies Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies reports that North America suffered "a nearly quintupled number of weather-related loss events ...for the past three decades. Anthropogenic climate change is believed to contribute to this trend." Smaller, more common storm surges can endanger low-lying cities like New Orleans and New York. Rising sea levels from melting glaciers and polar ice caps (levels in the Atlantic coast have risen 8" rise since 1900, 12" in New York Harbor. Levels are predicted to rise by 2-7 feet by 2100*). * Scientists at these institutions NASAS Goddard Institute for Space Studies The National Center for Atmospheric Research Institute on the Environment, Univ. of Minnesota Climate Systems Research Center, Univ. of Massachusetts National Academy of Science Your son or daughter born today will be 88 years old. © 2012 Sylvia Liu sources at www.sylvialiuland.com