The planet's climate is changing and it is doing it in a crazy way. This past week we have suffered cold waves with low temperatures, snowfall and heavy rain. The United States had to declare a state of emergency due to extreme snowfalls with strong winds and very low temperatures. However, in Sydney (Australia) it has reached the warmest temperatures of the last 79 years.
What happens to these drastic changes in temperatures?
High and low temperatures
The first thing to clarify (for those who have doubts or still do not know) in the Southern Hemisphere right now is summer. The inclination of the Sun's rays falls less steeply than in the Northern Hemisphere, so the Sun heats up more. Despite the fact that the Earth is closer to the Sun than in summer, what really matters and is a determining factor in temperatures is the inclination of the Earth's rays. If the sun's rays strike more perpendicular to the Earth it will be hotter than if they strike more obliquely.
Now in winter, the sun's rays they are more perpendicular in the southern hemisphere and steeper in the northern hemisphere. Yet despite this, the current Southern Hemisphere summer is experiencing abnormally high temperatures and catastrophic wildfires.
In Sydney it has been record temperatures of 47,3 degrees, the highest in 79 years. Additionally, fire emergencies have been issued in the metropolitan area of the city. Last Sunday, outdoor bonfires were prohibited throughout the metropolis to prevent the spread of fires.
The goal of Sydney's security forces, like that every year in Australia, is to reduce the risk of forest fires, as the country is suffering serious consequences of loss of fertile soil due to the continuous erosion of soils caused by desertification.
That same Sunday the temperatures were about to exceed the one that the country suffered in 1939 when it reached 47,8 degrees. Temperatures in Penrith, a western suburb of Sydney, were confirmed by the Bureau of Meteorology.
As a result of the fires, several properties in the states of Victoria and South Australia were destroyed.
New records are achieved
As early as September 2017, Australians were warned to prepare for a dangerous wildfire season due to one of the driest winters in Australian history and the expected high temperatures.
Between December 2016 and February 2017, more than 200 weather records were broken across Australia, causing heat waves, wildfires and floods throughout the summer.
Scientists say that such high temperatures, including those of the sea, have been caused by climate change. Climate change takes normal climatic conditions to extremes and increases the frequency of events such as cold waves, heat waves, droughts and floods.
Even a French tennis player who was playing in a tournament match had to withdraw due to extreme heat. It is the first time in his entire career that he retires from a match.
At the other end of the world
The other end of the world has suffered just the opposite. While in Australia it is very hot and there are forest fires, in the United States a great wave of cold has taken place that has caused a severe storm and declared a state of emergency.
Some parts of the United States have reach temperatures down to -37 degrees Celsius.
For the first time in 28 years, the state of Florida, one of the warmest on the East Coast, saw snow fall in the state capital, Tallahassee. This storm is called a meteorological bomb by scientists.
As you can see, the world is divided into two faces and the climate too.