Iowa State University: Global Warming
Iowa State climate researcher part of report forecasting more extreme North American weather - 05/24/08
More intense and frequent rainstorms and more frequent hot days and nights are among the weather extremes forecast for North America, according to an Iowa State University researcher who was one of the lead authors of a new government climate report released last week.
William Gutowski, professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, said additional weather extremes - such as heavy downpours, frequent heat waves, intense hurricanes and more areas affected by drought - are likely to occur.
Gutowski was a coordinating lead author of a key chapter for the report titled Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research produced the 164-page report. The scientific assessment provides the first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories.
Gutowski's chapter dealt with the degree to which climate changes over the past century can be attributed to human causes, and what lies ahead.
"There is scientific evidence," according to the report, "that a warming world will be accompanied by changes in the intensity, duration, frequency and geographic extent of weather and climate extremes." The report also stated human-induced warming has "likely caused much of the average temperature increase in North America over the past 50 years and, consequently, changes in temperature extremes.
Gutowski said extensive climate models project the continued warming of North America. The phenomenon has direct implications for extreme weather. "Weather events that have been occurring roughly once every 20 years might, in certain parts of the country, occur every five years or so by the end of the century."
