What driving factors contribute to extreme weather events and how can their frequency/intensity change with warming climate?

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Multiple Choice

What driving factors contribute to extreme weather events and how can their frequency/intensity change with warming climate?

Extreme weather is driven by the energy and moisture available in the atmosphere and oceans. When the climate warms, both the atmosphere and the oceans hold more heat and moisture, which fuels stronger storms and more intense weather events. Warmer oceans supply more latent heat to storms like tropical cyclones, boosting wind speeds and rainfall. A warmer atmosphere also can hold more water vapor (about 7% more per 1°C of warming), increasing the potential rainfall rates and the severity of precipitation during storms. In addition, warming tends to shift large-scale circulation patterns—think jet streams and monsoon systems—that influence where storms form, how often they occur in a region, and the paths they take. Because of these factors, extreme weather events can become more powerful and, in some places, more frequent or more persistent, even though changes in frequency are not uniform worldwide. The other statements suggest less energy, drier air, or no effect from warming, which contradict the fundamental physics of a warmer, moister atmosphere and oceans driving stronger extremes.

Extreme weather is driven by the energy and moisture available in the atmosphere and oceans. When the climate warms, both the atmosphere and the oceans hold more heat and moisture, which fuels stronger storms and more intense weather events. Warmer oceans supply more latent heat to storms like tropical cyclones, boosting wind speeds and rainfall. A warmer atmosphere also can hold more water vapor (about 7% more per 1°C of warming), increasing the potential rainfall rates and the severity of precipitation during storms. In addition, warming tends to shift large-scale circulation patterns—think jet streams and monsoon systems—that influence where storms form, how often they occur in a region, and the paths they take. Because of these factors, extreme weather events can become more powerful and, in some places, more frequent or more persistent, even though changes in frequency are not uniform worldwide. The other statements suggest less energy, drier air, or no effect from warming, which contradict the fundamental physics of a warmer, moister atmosphere and oceans driving stronger extremes.

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