Snow and ice impacted Tennessee and all other 49 states the week of Jan.11. The weather left roads covered in ice, inches of snow on the ground and many schools and businesses closed.
Although the weather is cold now, less than one month ago ended one of the hottest years since the late 1800s. According to NASA, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about two degrees Fahrenheit during the last century.
Erik Proseus, meteorologist at MemphisWeather.net, said he thinks there are a lot of processes in place globally that are causing the Earth to warm up.
“Different natural things that take place, along with human contribution, cause this natural cycle,” Proseus said.
Proseus also said the ice and snow events over the past week are simply due to weather variability.
“Even though it does seem a bit strange to think that 2017 was one of the hottest years on record now there is snow everywhere we turn,” Proseus said. “It really isn’t that shocking.”
Some students, like graphic design freshman Harley Wood, said it was difficult to walk to class this past year because of how hot it was outside.
“I prefer when it’s hot outside, but on certain days, the temperature outside was a lot to deal with,” Wood said. “Having to carry books and binders on days when even the thinnest of clothes would stick to your skin would make me feel disgusting and even made it a lot harder to focus on anything else.”
Wood said as a young student, he worries about how climate change is going to affect him and everyone else in the long run.
“I feel as though humans will continue to do things to make the Earth worse on top of the natural stuff that is already occurring,” Wood said. “We have made great efforts to reduce our impact by ‘going green,’ but I do not believe we can stop as a whole, and it worries me for our future.”
Dorian Burnette, professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Memphis, said climate change will affect our future with fewer cold waves, more heat waves and more rainfall coming in heavier bursts with longer dry spells in between the heavy rain events.
“There are a lot more difficult things to say that could affect us in the long run, such as the number of hurricanes declining, but when the storms do occur, they will be way stronger,” Burnette said.
