The Earth's climate changes naturally and often produces climatic extremes and disasters. On a time scale of days, months and years, changes in weather and climate can produce:
heat waves
river and ocean flooding
droughts
landslides
storms and hurricanes
tornadoes.
Effects of Global Warming
As global warming raises the temperature of the Earth’s surface these events may become more
frequent. This may have a negative effect on society as the events damage homes and villages and can lead to loss of life. As the global temperature increases, we would expect the amount of moisture in the atmosphere to increase, due to an increase in evaporation of water from the sea's surface. It is predicted that for every 1ºC rise in temperature, water vapour in the air over the oceans will increase by 6 - 8%. This will lead to an increase in rainfall rates in some parts of the world, causing more frequent floods and landslides. In other parts of the world a decrease in rainfall may be experienced, causing an increase in very dry periods.
Summary
In order to tackle future increases in extreme events we must learn how to predict and cope with them. It is certain that the poorest and most vulnerable societies in the developing world will be the least able to cope.