The fingerprints of modern day human induced global warming, and the subsequent changes in our climate and how those changes are affecting the weather, are everywhere. Since the late 1800s, according to NASA, the average global temperature has climbed about 1.1 degrees C (1.9 degrees F) with half of that warming occurring since the mid 1970s. And although on the surface a degree Celsius of warming may not seem like much, when averaged across the planet it's actually significant, especially when considering the rate at which it has occurred. According to NASA, it has taken roughly 5000 years for the planet to warm between 4 and 7 degrees C through natural processes coming out of past ice ages. For comparison, global temperatures have increased at a rate ten times faster than past ice age recovery periods in just the last century because of the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, chiefly carbon dioxide, due to human emissions. For more from NASA on the rate of CO2 increase and the impact on global warming, click here.
The impact of the seemingly small increase in global average temperature over the past 150 years has been to shift the climate into a mode favoring a higher likelihood and increasing frequency of heat extremes versus cold extremes globally. The graph below illustrates a stable climate. Climate is depicted by the curve with daily weather represented b Finger Biometric Device
