Extreme Weather

Watch

• What does three degrees of global warming look like? | The Economist ↗The Economist
• Floods, drought and the consequences of extreme weather | DW Documentary ↗DW Documentary
• Surviving Largest Tornado Outbreak Ever Recorded (Full Episode) | Witness to Disaster | Nat Geo ↗National Geographic
• Thunderstorms 101 | National Geographic ↗National Geographic
• Storm Chasers🌪️ | Weird But True! | S1 E2 | Full Episode | @natgeokids ↗Nat Geo Kids
• When Will Extreme Heat Become Unlivable? ↗PBS Terra

Read

• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History ↗A Pulitzer-winning exploration of humanity's profound, often destructive, impact on the planet's biodiversity, offering crucial context for the drivers of contemporary extreme weather patterns.Elizabeth Kolbert
• The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming ↗A stark, urgent prognosis of the planet's future under escalating warming, detailing the intensifying frequency and severity of extreme weather events.David Wallace-Wells
• Losing Earth: A Recent History ↗A compelling historical account of the critical decade when climate science became clear, yet political will to avert catastrophe evaporated, setting the stage for today's extreme weather challenges.Nathaniel Rich
• The Climate of History: Four ThesesA seminal essay that fundamentally reorients historical and philosophical thought to acknowledge humanity's geological agency, offering a profound lens on the era of extreme weather.Dipesh Chakrabarty
• Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity ↗From a pioneering climate scientist, a rigorous and urgent exposition of the scientific basis for escalating extreme weather and the imperative for immediate, decisive action.James Hansen

Voices to follow

• Katharine Hayhoe ↗A leading climate scientist renowned for her accessible communication, adept at translating complex atmospheric phenomena into relatable local impacts.Climate scientist, Professor at Texas Tech University and Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy
• Michael E. Mann ↗A prominent climatologist, celebrated for his foundational work on historical temperature reconstructions and his forthright advocacy for climate policy.Climatologist, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University
• Elizabeth Kolbert ↗A Pulitzer-winning journalist whose incisive reporting for The New Yorker illuminates the profound human impact on the planet's ecological systems.Staff writer, The New Yorker
• Bill McKibben ↗A pioneering environmentalist and author, whose early warnings and persistent activism have shaped the global discourse on climate change mitigation.Environmentalist, author, founder of 350.org

Glossary

• BlizzardA severe snowstorm with strong winds, very cold temperatures, and heavy snowfall that reduces visibility to almost zero. Blizzards can make travel impossible and cause power outages. For example, a blizzard might shut down schools and roads for days, burying cars in deep snowdrifts.
• Climate ChangeA long-term shift in global or regional weather patterns, especially a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to human activity. It's causing many extreme weather events to become more frequent and intense. For example, scientists say that climate change is making heatwaves hotter and droughts longer in many parts of the world.
• DroughtA long period of time when an area gets much less rain or snow than usual, leading to a severe shortage of water. This can dry up rivers, lakes, and crops. For example, if a region normally gets heavy monsoon rains but has very little for two years, it's experiencing a drought.
• Extreme WeatherWeather that is much more severe, unusual, or unseasonal than what is typically expected for a certain area and time of year. These events can cause serious damage or danger. For example, a sudden, record-breaking hailstorm in a desert region would be considered extreme weather.
• FloodAn overflow of a large amount of water beyond its normal limits, especially over what is usually dry land. Floods can happen due to heavy rain, overflowing rivers, or coastal storms. For example, after a day of non-stop heavy rain, the streets in your neighborhood might become flooded and impassable.
• HeatwaveA period of unusually hot weather that lasts for several days or weeks, often with very high temperatures that are dangerous for people, animals, and plants. For example, if your city experiences temperatures above 40°C for five days straight in summer, that's a heatwave.
• Storm SurgeAn abnormal rise in sea level caused by a powerful storm, especially a tropical cyclone, pushing water towards the shore. This surge of water can cause severe coastal flooding. For example, when a cyclone approaches the coast, the storm surge can push ocean water several feet higher than normal, flooding beachfront homes.
• TornadoA violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground, often looking like a funnel-shaped cloud. Tornadoes are known for their incredibly strong and destructive winds. For example, a tornado might rip through a town, tearing roofs off houses and uprooting trees in just a few minutes.
• Tropical CycloneA powerful, rotating storm system that forms over warm ocean waters, bringing very strong winds, heavy rain, and often causing large waves and coastal flooding. Depending on where they form, they are called hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones. For example, a hurricane hitting the coast of Florida is a type of tropical cyclone.
• WildfireA large, uncontrolled fire that spreads rapidly through forests, grasslands, or other natural areas, often made worse by dry conditions, high temperatures, and strong winds. For example, during a long, hot summer, a small spark could quickly turn into a massive wildfire that burns acres of forest.

Threads 5

Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Gatekeeping, Agenda-Setting & Framing Media

  Heatwaves quietly kill more people than floods or hurricanes do. But they get way less news coverage, because a hot day makes no dramatic footage. There's nothing scary to film when the disaster is just a rising number on a thermometer.

• Probability, Risk & Uncertainty Mathematics

  The first group to give up on a flooding coastline isn't the government, it's the insurance company. When they decide a place is too risky to insure, the math nerds who calculate risk have basically declared it unlivable, long before anyone official says so.

• Cognitive Biases Psychology

  People keep rebuilding homes in flood zones because our brains misjudge rare disasters. Before a flood hits, it feels impossible; right after, it feels safe again, 'lightning won't strike twice.' The mind systematically underrates those rare, catastrophic events, so we bet against them and lose.

• Inequality & Class Sociology

  After a flood or fire, aid money tends to follow expensive property. So the rich rebuild their damaged homes, while poorer families, whose cheaper places 'weren't worth as much,' often can't return at all. Each disaster quietly shifts wealth upward and pushes the poor out for good.

• Operations & Supply Chains Business

  One flood in one province can freeze factories across the whole planet. Why? Companies got so efficient they stopped keeping spare parts lying around, "just in time" delivery. That extra padding used to absorb shocks, and now it's gone.