Temperature increase could definitely have catastrophic outcomes for climate around the world. A discussion question this past Tuesday evening asked how could we believe or trust long term scientific predictions on weather patterns and conditions if meteorologists are often wrong and off target concerning short-term predictions and weather forecasts. This is a GREAT question! Weather is sometimes so unpredictable, but does not completely leave people in the dark. For example, we know that hurricanes bring certain weather: heavy wind and rain. However, the pattern the hurricane is taking can change in a second. I think this is useful when thinking about the future. Many things can change the “pattern” of the weather, we just have to be ready to face the “heavy wind and rain.” In other words, I do not think that we can be entirely sure of what the weather will hold for us in the future. But, I do think that meteorologists have an idea of what can be expected and we, has a society, should try and solve the problems that could occur.
Very interesting! I also think it's important to make the distinction between climate and weather: perhaps we can trust the nature of climatology more because it is based on long-term analysis of patterns in the weather data.
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