For the last few years, and especially in 2011, a new extreme weather event seems to pop up each week. Some decide to stick around: Texas and Oklahoma have been suffering from historic droughts for six months, with no sign of relief. No sooner does Hurricane Irene disappear than Tropical Storm Lee appears to flood Louisiana and stir up wildfires in nearby Texas. We seem beset by more, and more extreme, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, torrential rainstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards th
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
The answer is yes, September 12, 2011
By Charles Hodgson –
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This review is from: Rough Winds: Extreme Weather and Climate Change (Kindle Single) (Kindle Edition)
Scientists are asked “did climate change cause this storm?” and because the question is about apples and oranges (weather versus climate) their answer is always complicated. Powell’s “Rough Winds” makes the answer simple. If you add “this storm” to the long list of recent extreme weather, YES! climate change predicts just such an increase. Powell doesn’t even need to go back beyond 2010 to pull out a string of severe weather events and broken temperature records that fit precisely what climate science has been telling us for decades. The wonder of an ebook meant that I was surprised to see reference to something dated last Wednesday (Texas wildfires). A laundry list of climate disasters might make for boring reading but Powell manages to keep you glued to the page by organizing his book into an easy flow of short pieces on the weather offenders: heat; drought; wildfire; rain, snow & floods; and major storms. He includes personal stories from those experiencing these impacts of climate change as well as observations of professionals. He’s merciful too in that the book itself is readable in one sitting. I was especially impressed with Powell’s treatment of the facts that the Governors of Texas and Oklahoma had made public calls for prayers for rain as a response to 2011 drought.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
ThumpThump, ThumpThump, September 10, 2011
By Jeremy Aldrich (Harrisonburg, VA USA) –
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This review is from: Rough Winds: Extreme Weather and Climate Change (Kindle Single) (Kindle Edition)
The author wants your heart rate to go up when you read these tales of extreme weather, which he (a geologist and decorated scientist) says are evidence of climate change when considered together. More importantly, in the author’s view, they represent a downward cycle that makes the problem worse as higher temperatures lead to more ocean water evaporation adding to a heat-trapping blanket of atmosphere, increased lightning storms that create more fires, and then those fires destroying forests needed to convert CO2 to oxygen. Referencing a number of weather events from around the world (including starting and ending the book with Hurricane Irene), he says we don’t need to wait for further evidence to “take out insurance” against climate change. Some examples were certainly more compelling than others, and the book left this reader with a huge question: even if the author is 100% correct, what could or should we do to change something that he says is already happening?
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
What global warming really means…, September 15, 2011
By James P. Cobb (Tucson, AZ) –
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This review is from: Rough Winds: Extreme Weather and Climate Change (Kindle Single) (Kindle Edition)
One of the problems with the problem of global warming is the phrase “global warming.” Everybody knows what “global” means. Everybody knows what “warming” means. Put it together and it means “the world getting hotter.” Simple. Right? Not quite. Next winter when a scientifically challenged associate of yours remarks, “So much for all that Global Warming crap! Look at all this snow!” You’ll have an opportunity to educate someone as to what global warming really means. It doesn’t mean that we’re never going to get snow. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be warm all of the time. It doesn’t mean the oceans are going to boil. All it means is that the bell-shaped curve of weather events is going to get shifted over. There’s going to be a new “average.” That doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to ever be day with nice weather in the future. It means that the average temperature has risen and will keep rising. Powell has written about some complex and confusing science and the effects of the problem in a very accessible way by using lots of illustrative examples. That’s commendable. He gives you an appreciation of the spate of natural disasters we’re experiencing in 2011 and are likely to experience in the future.
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