Transition of Seasons Underway
In the American West, the once-discrete window of "fire season" has expanded, stretching all year due to increased dryness and earlier snowmelt. Good spring rains, while beneficial, often set up the next conflagration, especially when followed by summer drought.
Across the globe, summer is becoming a season to endure rather than enjoy, as in the Horn of Africa, where tens of millions rely on outside aid to avoid a widespread famine. The last five "rainy" seasons in the region have been dry, marking the longest and deepest drought ever measured. This has forced 1.3 million people in Somalia to abandon their farms and migrate to camps.
India, too, is experiencing changes in its weather patterns. The tension and loo (hot dry winds) that precede the monsoon rains are lasting longer due to climate change, making the monsoons more erratic with longer dry stretches and then extreme downpours. Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) suggest that human influence on the Indian Ocean has contributed to a significant reduction in rainfall in East Africa in recent years.
Europe is not immune to these changes either. Some ski slopes have been shut down due to a heatwave that scientists have called "the most extreme climatological event in European history." Climate change is also making the holidays unmoored from their expected weather. For instance, the great Thanksgiving anthem "Over the River and through the Woods" references a time when New Englanders might expect a white and drifted snow for their celebrations.
As seasons become less predictable, people may experience a kind of low-grade sadness and unmoored fretfulness. The decline in rainfall in the Horn of Africa is likely to continue, and scientists predict that only four out of the last 21 sites for the Winter Games will have enough snow to host the competitions by 2050.
Despite these changes, the old memories of "normal" seasons may eventually disappear as the baseline changes profoundly due to climate change. People may become adjusted to a degraded Earth, but still experience a loss when seasons no longer resemble the glory of the past. It's a reminder that our planet is undergoing significant changes, and it's up to us to address them.
