Personally, I have noticed that the weather pattern in NYC has changed over the past couple of years. While I don’t feel like it is particularly colder or warmer during the different seasons, I have noticed that the seasons present itself differently than it did in the past. For example, I feel that NYC experiences storms more frequently. When it rains, we have sudden storms and flash flood warnings quite often. The seasons do not correlate with the time of the year either. I’ve noticed that we get sudden summer-like weather during the winter months and sudden cold drafts during the warmer seasons. I feel that climate change may have something to do with this change in weather for NYC.
According to Robinson Meyer (2017), global warming will cause the rising sea level to intensify storms that occur in New York. Meyer says that there will be intense hurricanes and large storms that will occur in New York for the next 3 centuries to come. This trend is something that I’ve noticed affecting New York. Hurricane Sandy alone, damaged the city terribly and many areas are still recovering from this hurricane that was almost 6 years ago. And now, it is expected that by the year 2030, every five years a flood will occur.
In 2016, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that there will be a rise in temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns. The map provided above shows the temperature changes throughout the United States and the coastlines are warming up at a faster rate. The intensity of floods and droughts will increase and precipitation and frequency of heavy downpours are going to become more frequent. The EPA says that what this will mean is that there will be flooding during the winter and spring season, and droughts during the summer and fall seasons. It will also lead to different weather trends, such as intense wind and rainfall like tropical areas.
In addition to the environmental changes, the EPA states that human health will be at stake. With warm weather, mosquitos and ticks will stick around longer because of the rise in temperatures, they can survive longer in this type of weather. This will cause a concern with diseases such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus. Recently, I have noticed more news concerning the spread of Lyme disease and viruses that are carried by mosquitoes. Whenever the warmer months are closing in, this kind of news make the headlines. There is more news about preventing tick bites and what to watch out for. In the past, I did not notice so many alerts about these issues. In the recent summers, I also noticed that around different neighborhood parks, many of areas with trees and plants, pesticide signs are more frequently seen. Little did I realize, that what this came down to was the rising temperatures promoting the spread of these diseases. Now that climate change is becoming an apparent issue in people’s daily lives, we realize how much the global climate has changed in the recent decades alone
One Response
Great topic on changing in weather/temperature. As you said in your blog, the EPA stated that coastal regions have shown a trend for an increase in temperature. I have always wondered why the coastline has become warmer and warmer each year. In considering this, I have come to realize that the changes in coastal ocean temperatures may have more impact than global averages temperature rise. From looking at the coastal ocean temperatures over the past few decades, statistics showed varieties of regional diversities in both warming and cooling patterns. Research has shown that the South American Pacific coasts recorded a drop in temperature over the last few decades. On the other hand, as research showed the North Pacific and the North Atlantic regions have been seeing warming trends instead of cooling trends.
One of the explanations is that the coastal waters at higher latitudes warm faster than the water in low latitudes. The result, as experts suggested, might cause great impact on the organisms that lived in the coastal region which in turn affect the ecosystem in the long term. The living environment for small organisms such as plankton, shrimps to large organisms such as fish and sharks will be disturbed since most of the organisms will only develop the best within the original natural environment. Whether or not these organisms will adapt to the changing in environment temperature is another question mark.