Meteorologist speaks out on climate crisis

To the Editor:

When I studied meteorology 35 years ago, many didn’t believe climate change was real. Now, many know it is real, and humans are the primary driver through fossil fuel burning. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are 50% higher than in pre-industrial times.

Carbon-based gases trap heat in our atmosphere.

Discuss the facts with everyone! The Earth’s hottest 10 years since reliable measured records began in the 1800s have all been since 2014.  At the current pace, Wisconsin could have a climate similar to present day St. Louis by the end of the century. Hotter summers will increase our air conditioning costs and make it harder on outdoor workers, as well as livestock herds. The economic loss to recreation and tourism from warmer winters with less reliable snow and ice has been felt for many years already around here and will get even more drastic.

Things that once seemed unimaginable are becoming common. This past summer Phoenix had 113 days in a row of high temperatures of at least 100 degrees F, smashing their old record of 76 days!  

Precipitation, as correctly predicted by climate models 20 years ago, is becoming more extreme. In October, Spain had 19 inches of rain (a whole year’s worth) in 8 hours. Imagine the catastrophic toll to life, infrastructure, and farmland if Wisconsin got 20 plus inches of rain in a day! 

In between wet bursts, we are likely to experience more intense droughts and wildfires. This will not only destroy valuable timber but cause more days of poor air quality, impacting our health. These things are more likely to happen with every tenth of a degree that our planet warms.

Contact your officials all the way up to the president and press them to work urgently on sound climate policy. Even if that means fossil fuels can’t be completely phased out, our leaders can still provide funding and a good framework for carbon capture techniques, research, and adaptation strategies here and abroad to grow. We still have the ability to slow this crisis.

Tony Schumacher, 

Chief Meteorologist

Great Lakes Weather Service