Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of the United States and other parts of the world. In the US, 2002 saw record wildfires in Colorado, Arizona and Oregon as well as severe droughts and dust storms in Montana, Colorado and Kansas. Europe experienced over 20,000 deaths from extreme heat waves in 2003 and over 1,500 deaths in India from heat waves. The Arctic ice cap is declining at 9% per decade, indicating concerning events to come from climate change. Global warming also makes hurricanes stronger by warming ocean waters, allowing storms to gain more energy and increase in intensity.
2. Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of
the United States. In 2002, Colorado, Arizona and Oregon
endured their worst wildfire seasons ever. The same year,
drought created severe dust storms in Montana, Colorado
and Kansas, and floods caused hundreds of millions of
dollars in damage in Texas, Montana and North Dakota. Since
the early 1950s, snow accumulation has declined 60 percent
and winter seasons have shortened in some areas of the
Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington. f course, the
impacts of global warming are not limited to the United
States. In 2003, extreme heat waves caused more than
20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in
India. And in what scientists regard as an alarming sign of
events to come, the area of the Arctic's perennial polar ice
cap is declining at the rate of 9 percent per decade. Global
warming doesn't create hurricanes, but it does make them
stronger and more dangerous. Because the ocean is getting
warmer, tropical storms can pick up more energy and become
more powerful. So global warming could turn, say, a category
3 storm into a much more dangerous category 4 storm. In
fact, scientists have found that the destructive potential of
hurricanes has greatly increased along with ocean
temperature over the past 35 years.