This article was taken from the May 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Earth experienced its hottestyear on record in 2014, according to the National Climatic Data Center in the US, with extreme weather hitting indiscriminately -- from an Arctic winter in Chicago to a year-round drought in Los Angeles. The problem? Rising temperatures caused by global warming mean the atmosphere holds more vapour, resulting in more rain.
Compiled using data from World Weather Online, which aggregates information from national and global organisations, and the World Weather Information Service, these radials give a detailed representation of severe weather occurrences across five cities in 2014. Each straight line on the radial -- which was inspired by a similar project by designer Timm Kekeritz based on weather in 2013 -- represents one day; it shows the minimum, maximum and mean temperatures. The grey lines are each city's 30-year average; the grey circles signify precipitation: the larger the circle, the more rainfall in one day. "There's a concern that, as the climate changes, the pattern of severe weather will also change," says Joshua Wurman, president of the Center for Severe Weather Research in Colorado. “So places that are not used to a particular kind of severe weather will get those impacts." The long-term forecast is uncertain, but Wurman is pretty sure about one thing: "There will almost certainly be changes."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
