Ask Lemmy

But I don't think it's normal for weather to be -10 degrees F with snow, and then 3 days later 75 degrees F! That seems insane to me!

The climate is going crazy, but strictly speaking, you can't logically conclude that from solely your local weather fluctuations. I.e., climate change is a global property of our planet, which requires global statistics...which we have, but your folks either refuse to look or refuse to listen to experts who have looked.

And extreme weather events are more likely, but that doesn't mean they never occurred before or never would occur without climate change.

I'm not saying this to downplay the severity of the climate crisis or even to say that you literally can never use local weather events to reason about climate change, but IMO is it both politically and mathematically important to stress the global nature of climate change whenever it is brought up.

Yeah I love being told by the auto mechanics I work with that they know more about the climate and weather than someone who has a PHD in climatology. I like to bring up how much they like it when someone comes in and tells them how to do their job - that's exactly what they are doing. Leave the expertise to the experts, morons.

It's definitely worse and swings more wildly than it did when I was a kid in the 80's. Plus the seasons are shifting, everything seems to start at different times than it used to. But you don't have to notice it, it's scientific fact that it's happening and you can find endless amounts of research that prove it.

One in ten year events have turned into one in two year events.

My city moved up half a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone (7B to 8A) when the latest map came out in 2023. That's not weather, that's climate.

you must live in a conservative place where climate change denial is a part of their cultural-political identity ... it's the exact opposite where I live - strangers I chat with in a waiting room will openly and proudly state they believe in climate change in the midst of an otherwise banal discussion of the weather.

You aren't crazy, the weather is fucked. The proof is in min and max temps over the course of decades. You can also pull up precipitation/snow records over decades as well. A quick google search would find you tons of proof.

People who are climate change deniers, or just willfully ignorant, will deny there is a problem, and keep denying it until their home or workplace gets swallowed up in a climate calamity. Of those, there will be a percentage that doubles down on their bullshit even after being personally bitch slapped by the weather and becoming a statistic.

Stop engaging these people; it's exhausting. I'm dating someone like this. We will discuss an issue, have a difference in ideology, then I will find and present data and proof that back up the things I am claiming, and my fiance will just double down on the bullshit to the point that it's transcended to gaslighting.

Highly variable weather is nothing new. What is measurably new is the higher frequency of extreme weather events. That is the most apparent current consequence of climate change on the weather.

Things that used to happen once every generation are happening once every few years.

Which is generally outside the threshold of perception for the average lead poisoning victim.

Phoenix is forecast to hit 100° on Wednesday, 3/18. This is a full week earlier than the current record for earliest 100° day (3/26/1988). Average is May 2nd.

Climate is fucked, yo.

Just look at the data, there are historical records going back a century in many locations around the US. Find one close to you and do some digging.

The simple answer is that crazy does happen, and has happened historically, but it's much more common now than it used to be.

We are experiencing Climate Chaos, you are not wrong. The people around you are in denial.

Welcome to the red states. You’ll be screaming internally a lot.

The food is good, though. And the sportsball team is looking good this year.

I always felt like when I was a kid we got snow in November - half a meter of it by Christmas - and now there's less of it and it comes later. But when I look up the actual snowfall stats for my childhood years, it's not that different from what we get now.

It's not all explained by climate change, but it does play a factor - especially with extreme weather events. Still, good to remember that weather ≠ climate.

Some people are much like Trump. They will contradict themselves midst their own narrative. One of my uncles literally texted that he remembered snow being around every day from early December to April - enough to play in - when he was a kid, and that nothing has changed with the weather, but then also said, so far this winter no snow that has stuck around more than a day and only a cm or so at a time. So which is it? Same as he remembered from childhood or the way it is now?

I feel like weather is vibes based. All I know is how today is relative to earlier that day.

Depending on where you live that kind of weather is normal. It's def normal in the northeast in spring and fall.

Climate change is more about the annual mean temperatures going up. Objectively it was colder 20-30 years ago in most places.

I'm in the Midwest, where we really have long had wild fluctuations in the weather day to day - think snowfall in the morning in early May followed by 60°F in the afternoon. I'm on the eastern half of Kansas, so there's a lot of open land to the west for big weather patterns to bounce around, and not a lot of bodies of water to moderate things.

I've had better luck commenting on trends rather than days: "Loving all this nice weather the last few weeks!" "Yeah, but honestly, it's kinda unnerving to have it in January..."

I think you forgot a question.

I have nothing substantive to add but to add to the choir of voices saying you are not crazy. If it helps, most people around me also agree so add them to the count