Searchlight BOOKS Climate Change Climate Change and Life on Earth Chinwe Onuoha Lerner Publications Minneapolis
4 Chapter 1 WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE Let's face it Earth's climate is changing Temperatures are rising polar ice is melting and weather related storms are getting stronger Changes like these are happening worldwide and affecting all living creatures on Earth Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in August 2017 It had the most rainfall for any tropical storm ever recorded
5 Meteorologists use computers to track patterns in temperatures rainfall and wind to predict weather Climate vs Weather Climate is different from weather Weather is what happens in a place's atmosphere Rain snow and wind are all examples of weather Weather changes every day Climate is a place's average weather conditions over time For example Florida's climate is warm and sunny because the weather there is usually warm and sunny But what if Florida's average temperature dropped so much that it started snowing regularly That would be an example of climate change Climate change is a change in Earth's weather patterns over a long time
