February's Record-Breaking Heat

The average temperature high in Oklahoma this time of year hovers around the 50s (in Fahrenheit), or around 10 degrees Celsius. This year, Oklahoma saw figures in the high 80s to high 90s (F). Can we, as the author puts it, “blame it on climate change?”

Well, climate science is more complicated than just placing blame. For one thing, weather and climate are different things altogether. And, this heat is partly due to the Pacific jet stream, which exists independently of climate change, of course. But climate change can increase the intensity of the jet stream’s effects. And these effects, in turn, have their own impacts. Increased temperatures, more hot days and earlier warm spells can devastate ecosystems, as “trees may bloom after an unseasonably balmy stretch  - and then suffer frost damage when cold weather returns. Flowers may blossom and shed their petals before bees arrive to pollinate them. These minor destabilisations have a ripple effect, impacting flora, fauna, and the industries built around them.”

This article explains in simple terms that specific weather events are not "caused" by climate change, rather that climate change is the change in frequency of certain kinds of weather events. We can’t point to a typhoon and say it exists because of climate change, but we can say that climate change means seeing changes in typhoon characteristics like strength, timing and frequency.

So, we can’t "blame" today’s warmth completely on climate change, as weather has always fluctuated, but climate change does have a lot to do with it if you take it in context.