Summer is officially here. NBC6 meteorologist explains what ‘showing your stripes' means for rising temps in South Florida - NBC 6 South Florida
Summer Solstice: NBC6 meteorologist explains global warming impact on South Florida - NBC 6 South Florida
Summer officially began at 10:58 a.m. and each year on the Summer Solstice, meteorologists from around the country and around the world show our stripes.
The “Show Your Stripes” campaign was created by climate scientist Ed Hawkins to show in one image what a century of global warming means for Earth and for Miami.
Each stripe is a year. A blue color is a below-average year. A red color is an above-average year. The darker the shade, the more significant the anomaly.
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Whether we look at Miami or Earth, the hottest years on record have all happened in the last decade. In fact, scientists can extrapolate and determine that right now is the hottest human beings have ever experienced.
Climate change comes in many shapes and sizes. For us here in South Florida, the ever-growing number of record-setting morning temps and too much water, either from the ocean or the sky, are our biggest concerns.
Other parts of the world do not have enough water. Mosquito season is longer. Hurricanes are stronger. And wildfires out west are making insurance companies bail out completely.
Changing Climate South Florida
In-depth coverage of South Florida's changing climate and environmental issues
But it’s not just out west. Earlier this month, wildfires from Canada spread more dangerous smoke to the Northeast United States than on any other day since we have been keeping air quality records.
If you wanna learn more about the warming stripes at locations all around the country, go to www.climatecentral.org or showyourstripes.info.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.