John Wheeler: Our climate is a result of our geography - INFORUM
John Wheeler: Our climate is a result of our geography - InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports
John Wheeler: Our climate is a result of our geography
We get about three-fourths of our annual average precipitation in about one-third of the year.
FARGO — Too little rain and then too much. This is too often the pattern of precipitation here across the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Our climate is at the mercy of our geography. We are in the center of the continent, and moisture sources are a long way off. Our winters are cold and often snowy, but the winter snows produce relatively little water.
Here in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, we get about three-fourths of our annual average precipitation in about one-third of the year, between mid-May and mid-September. The vast majority of this summertime rainfall comes from a very unreliable source: thunderstorms. This summer has started out very dry, but the right weather system could deliver a timely good rain, or just as easily, a flash flood; and this rain will fall over most of our area or, more likely, it will be hit-or-miss, leaving many of us hoping for the next chance.
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”