Extreme weather

**Group 1: Types of Extreme Weather**

– Extreme weather encompasses unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather.
– Main types include heat waves, cold waves, heavy precipitation, and storms like tropical cyclones.
– Effects of extreme weather include economic costs, loss of human lives, droughts, floods, and landslides.
– Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
– Severe weather poses risks to life, property, and requires intervention by authorities.

**Group 2: Impact on Society and Ecosystems**

– Extreme weather events have significant impacts on human society and natural ecosystems.
– Climate change is intensifying extreme weather events globally.
– Natural disasters caused over $90 billion in global direct losses in 2015.
– Poor urban planning and wetland destruction exacerbate the effects of extreme weather.
– Confidence is high in attributing extreme weather events to anthropogenic climate change.

**Group 3: Climate Change and Extreme Weather**

– The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report projects larger increases in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events with global warming.
– Rapidly warming arctic temperatures may contribute to extreme weather in mid-latitudes.
– Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica can affect sea level, sea temperature, and ocean circulation.
– Increasing temperatures causing glaciers to melt could lead to shifts in weather patterns.
– The number of climate-related events reported has been increasing over the years.

**Group 4: Human Activities and Extreme Weather**

– Urban planning with increased impervious surfaces
– Destruction of wetlands intensifying floods
– Building homes below sea level or along floodplains
– Tall structures altering wind patterns in urban areas
– Urban heat islands due to impervious surfaces and pollution

**Group 5: Attribution and Effects of Extreme Weather Events**

– Focus on climate change and other causal factors
– Recommendations for improved practices in attribution research
– Investigation of climate change impact on extreme weather
– Use of climate modeling for future predictions
– Complexity of weather events and atmospheric variables