To this his father explains to him, "Son, that is because there is a difference between climate and weather. Climate is actually a broad spectrum whereas weather is a narrow concept. When you talk about seasons, you are usually talking about climate; but when you talk about a specific day, you are knowingly or unknowingly referring to weather. And that is why you felt what you felt. I hope that clears your doubt!"

Veer's question was a good one. But today in this report, we will even go further. We will talk about 'extreme weather'. So what actually is extreme weather?

Extreme weather or extreme climate events refer to unexpected, unusual, or severe weather events that could have devastating effects. Extreme weather has significant impact on biotic and abiotic ecosystems and can bring severe changes to human lives. Extreme weather events can include extreme heat waves causing droughts and wildfires, excessive rains (heavy downpours) causing floods and landslides, strong winds such as hurricanes and tornadoes etc.

Going an year down the line, one can still feel the tingling sensation upon remembering the extreme weather events that took place in 2021. 

- Madrid, Spain saw the worst snow in the city for 50 years in January 2021 followed by the arrival of storm Filomena which brought unusually cold weather and heavy snowfalls, & caused cancelled services and transport disruption.

- The strongest sandstorm in a decade hits Jiuquan city on 15th March 2021 carried over by strong winds from Mongolia which brought a huge spike in air pollution and transport disruption.

- The Dixie fire in Genesee, California grew overnight on 21st August 2021 by nearly 10,000 acres to 714,219 acres leaving ashes behind.

Such is the state of climate that extreme weather has become so frequent. Current evidence and climate models show that an increase in global temperature will increase extreme weather events around the globe, which will only intensify destruction and losses - both human and economic. As per wikipedia,"Extreme weather has significant impacts on human society as well as natural ecosystems. For example, a global insurer Munich Re estimates that natural disasters cause more than $90 billion global direct losses in 2015." 1

We need to act before it is too late. We are not on the path to align with the Paris Climate accord's target of containing the global temperature to 1.5 degree celsius before the end of the century which will be our biggest defeat. We must march, we must strike, and we must demand - ACTION! Now is not the time to rest, but to do our best to make governments listen to our voices - so make sure your own voice is heard!

References:-

1. Wikipedia contributors. “Extreme Weather.” Wikipedia, 13 Sept. 2022, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_weather.