Introduction:
The rising global carbon dioxide emissions, hotter temperatures are the characteristics of Global warming which in turn is driving our overall climate to change. This climate change subsequently causes our regional weather patterns to be altered significantly. Enough that they often result in extreme weather events like heavy rainfall, irregular monsoon patterns, floods, cyclones etc. to name a few.
Check out: Climate Change Impacts on Plain Areas Landform of Pakistan
Extreme Weather Events- Causes and Impacts:
1. Frequent Heatwaves: Major parts of the world have been severely getting hit by bouts of heatwaves since 2019. Many people have even died due to heatstrokes. The US and many cities of Europe including Italy, France, Germany have suffered heatwaves. In the Asian continent, the story is the same- Pakistan has also seen its fair share of heatwaves since then and at the time of writing this article is currently experiencing another one. Read more: Heatwaves Are Killing Off Sea Life In Billions – Destroying The Ecosystem
2. Wildfires: Multiple countries have experienced great economic loss in the month of July 2021 due to wildfires along with the loss of human lives. Wildfires broke out due to heatwaves that hit Turkey, Greece, Italy, Australia, California, the US, and many other countries. As recent as last week of June 2023, Canada had suffered such serious wildfires that it had caused a red haze to settle over the region spanning miles from the source of the wildfire. It even reached New York City in America and respiratory issues and problems and difficulty with breathing in people were also reported.
Also, Check out: 2019-2021 The Years of Wildfires – Causes and Effects
Related: Wildlife Is Already Coping With Effects of Climate Change
3. Unprecedented Floods: Climate change has caused changes in the Monsoon season- making it more and more irregular as well as frequent that results in the risk of floods being increased each time it rains. Because the precipitation pattern has altered over many South Asian countries. Moreover, heatwaves have brought unprecedented floods in many parts of the world.
Germany, Spain, England, and other cities of Europe faced extreme damage due to floods especially in the year 2020 and the devastating impacts of the Monsoon Flood 2022 in Pakistan was one of the most recent accounts of uncontrolled flooding in the region driven by irregular precipitation. Moreover, as of the writing of this article, there is a severe flood wreaking havoc in the Kurram district’s Parachinar region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
Read more here: Europe Floods 2021 Due to Climate Change – Causes and Effects
4. Droughts and Food Shortage: Due to less rainfall, drought conditions have been remained prevalent in many parts of India, and the Indian desert, in some states of Canada and the United States of America along with other countries. The already increasing food insecurity and food scarcity will further be aggravated by these droughts and famines that are a result of climate change.
Also read: These 11 Countries Risk Instability Due To Climate Change
5. Increased Frequency of Natural Disasters: In the recent years, there has also been an increase in the frequency of natural disasters such as earthquakes, sinkholes, hurricanes, sand storms, avalanches, glacier retreats, etc. Most recent sinkholes were noticed in Italy, China, Mexico, etc. Hurricanes have badly hit many states of the United States and it is likely that more such natural and dangerous events may take place if mitigating measures are not taken into consideration to combat climate change.
Also Read: What Is Causing Sudden Increase In Sinkholes Around The World?
6. Increased Prevalence of Diseases: If we thought that COVID-19 was as bad as it could get then that is completely wrong. Scientists have shown that with the rapidly changing climate and raising temperatures, the sea ice and snow is melting rapidly as well. This is why there is a high possibility that many diseases and illnesses may arise from the microbes that would be unfrozen after millennia. Thus, it would not be wrong to say that we are possibly in danger of many more future pandemics or epidemics in the future.
7. GLOFs (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods): Excessive rainfall, heatwaves that result in rapid snow melting, or other disastrous but natural weather events like earthquakes may also become the reason for a glacial lake outburst that can further lead to flooding. This naturally will impact the mountain communities, people’s livelihood, property and displacement issues that come with flooding. Not to mention that GLOFs and melting polar ice caps are another dire warning of how very soon certain portions of the countries of the world such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh for instance could be submerged under water.
Conclusion:
Serious action needs to be taken to tackle these issues- particularly that of climate change before it reaches a point of no return. Investing in infrastructure, promoting development, mitigating carbon emissions and shifting to a cleaner energy source world wide can really mitigate the effects yet, even then, it will still be years, perhaps decades for the global temperatures to go down back to the 1980 levels. This is the situation we are in and taking immediate action is of utmost importance.
Check out: What is Climate Change Adaptation? – Importance and Methods
Also see: How Much Time Earth Has Before Climate Change Destroys it?
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