Over the past few weeks, climate change has become more evident. Scientists say this is due to the worsening of global warming. The persistence of climate change is sure to have an impact on the students at ERHS.

The ongoing destruction of major cities from Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean is often featured on the news. So far, there have been four major hurricanes this hurricane season that have hit the United States. Three of those storms have hit within the last month.

But why are all of these major hurricanes hitting one after the other? Why is this hurricane season seem much more intense than the ones in the past?

According to the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), scientists who wrote a recent research report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) believe that these major hurricanes are much more intense than any precedents because  “a review of existing studies…lead us to conclude that it is likely that greenhouse warming will cause hurricanes in the coming century to be more intense globally and have higher rainfall rates than present-day hurricanes.” Global warming is the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere due to the increase in gas (the Greenhouse Effect). The rise in temperatures is causing warmer ocean waters to create more intense hurricanes to rise.

Ms. Hammonds, an AP Environmental Science teacher at ERHS, said that “most scientific evidence supports this idea. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane trap heat. These gases have increased quite a bit in the last 100 years, and there is strong correlation between an increase in these gases and an increased global temperature.” 

The changes in climate can bring unusual weather patterns and intense storms that can affect us in many ways. Freshman Kayla Fenstermacher that in the upcoming summer, this will affect what they wear to school.  Deven Verma, a freshman that plays an outdoor sport said that “climate change will make it hotter when they play and could increase our chance of a heat stroke.” Students are worried about how they will be able to adjust to changes that lay before them in the near future.