What Climate Change has forced upon us!
If you had ignored all the warnings and decided that “Global Warming,” aka “Climate Change,” was a fantasy concocted by the news agencies, politicians, scientists, and celebrities anxious to have their names and faces on TV, think again! Your worst nightmare has just become a reality!
In case you had your head buried in the sand and have not peeked at the news over the past few years, you may have overlooked the absolute disaster we are facing, not only in North America but in many places around the world.
Climate Change is now a fierce reality that we are facing. Having lived on this continent for almost 40 years, I have never seen this type of weather pattern ever! Winter storms in the past decade never started on the West Coast and migrated all across the country and affected the East Coast! Now they do.
Now, look at what the summer of 2022 has meant for us. The hottest summer temperatures in decades. The worst drought hit the West and Mid-West lakes and rivers. We have never seen the levels of these sources of fresh water drop so precipitously low. The future looks bleak for the agricultural industry.
Wildfires are surging in many regions. We even have a new term called – “Firenado” for the intense heat and fire that forms its own circular tornado-type funnel of raging fire! It is almost a surreal view of what hell must look like. There now appears to be no fire season! It is just one continuous ‘forest fire’ in so many different locations across the West and Mid-West. There seems to be no letup in sight.
And when the winter storms hit, they bring so much rain that the next looming disaster is mudslides. The areas where the fires have swept across the landscape have destabilized the earth, especially on hillsides, which causes a secondary emerging catastrophe for homeowners to cope with.
The National Fire Center has reported that as of September 23rd. 94 wildfires are burning across several states. This is now considered a historical record for this time of year.
Home destroyed by Wildfire in Oregon
Our ability to contain this growing challenge is woefully inadequate. Battling these fires is an army of almost 10,000 firefighters, aircraft, and helicopters with no letup in sight. A million acres burnt will be recorded by the end of September.
The problem is that the changing climate is outpacing our capacity to maintain any semblance of control over these fires. The dry, dusty condition, strong winds, and lightning all contribute to the amount and severity of the wildfires.
As summer draws to a close here in North America, and the onslaught of winter rears its head, one wonders what the severity of the winter storms that have spanned the country from the West Coast all the way to the East Coast earlier this year!
I will keep an eye on the weather and keep you up to date…..