It’s rather unusual to experience rainy days in our place as typically, this March is supposed to be a dry month. In our place, the rainfall profile has been very minimal precipitation from January to April and the wet season begins in May. In some places, about 15 kilometers from my place, waist-deep flooding nearby a river occurred preventing commuting passengers from reaching their destinations. Is this an evidence of climate change?
It rained hard the other day, and it had been that way for at least three days in a row. When I examined the Accuweather forecast, there will be rain the next day, then a fine day and the rest will again rainy for the next five days. A pool of water covered the ground in our yard, just like during the wet months, in just a matter of a few hours.
Unusual events like this serves as valuable information for climate scientists. Writing informative stories related to this event is something that we can do today—in real time.
Indeed, information sharing through blogs cannot be summarily ignored. This article may not be refereed, but there will always be ways to confirm such an observation.
Table of Contents
Evidence of Climate Change: Convincing Documentations or Simple Aberrations?
Isolated events of torrential rains that occur unexpectedly make one think that simple documentation might be something worthy as evidence of climate change.
Would a picture serve as evidence of this event? I took a snapshot of the sky, and here it is including a screenshot of the time I took the picture, the gadget, among others.
I also took a recording of frogs croaking near the transient pond, as they call their mates. I find it alarming. Listen to the audio of frogs calling each other that I captured during the unexpected rain.
These evidences of climate change if I can use these two oft-cited words of current times suggests that there will be a significant disruption to the normal ecosystem processes. There is a seasonal shift.
The frogs are part of the food chain. Having more of them means more food for their predators—like snakes. As cobras, snake eagles, and other predators high in the food chain eat snakes, a significant change in the food chain profile occurs.
Long-Term Seasonal Shift Significant Effects
In the long-term, if this shift in season continues, weather-dependent human activities will be affected. A specific example would be less production of fruiting trees because of strong typhoons. Their flowers cannot develop because the heavy rains sloughed off the blooming flowers from their peduncle or stalk.
Based on interviews with farmers while doing surveys on livelihood concerns, unexpected rains can significantly affect a year’s fruit production. I did a quick review of the literature about these events.
I found out that the effects of this seasonal shift appear to have not given much attention. Perhaps the climate shift phenomenon, specifically on flowering effects of sudden downpours, has not been given studied by scientists because of their sporadic occurrence. I need to spend more time to review the literature if I want to make sure this hypothesis is worth pursuing.
Events like this one, while isolated, will have reverberating effects on human economy as fruit production dwindles, perhaps temporarily as the whole system adapts to the seasonal shift.
To show the economic repercussions of a disaster, I briefly describe what happens upon the onset of a significant weather perturbation.
Super Typhoons as Evidence of Climate Change
A strong typhoon [Super Typhoon Rai (Odette)] hit our place three months ago. It devastated some portions of our city, bending or destroying communication towers, obliterating bridges, uprooting large trees or breaking large branches, demolished the roofs of permanent housing structures while totally damaging flimsy houses, and leaving fruiting plants devoid of leaves and flowers.
Virtually all fruiting pomelo (Citrus maxima) trees lost their flowers and young fruits. As a result, I can no longer buy pomelo fruits along the highways where they used to be abundant. People’s livelihoods are affected. They lost their potential earnings, which have economic repercussions.
Conclusion
The documentation of events that serve as evidence of climate change can help advance our knowledge in this respect. If everyone does their share by sharing various types of media, such as pictures, audio, and video, that otherwise would have been left useless somewhere in their gadgets, then there is an opportunity to pursue more rigorous application of science to confirm observations.
As this article has shown, it is important to share whatever information we have for others to consider, despite the apprehension of some because of a myriad of digital techniques to manipulate media in different forms. Fact can be differentiated from fiction, and information can be verified as long as the cooperation of the contributor and the user is allowed to flourish.
If you care enough about the evidence of climate change, and are keen enough to share your knowledge to confirm some other evidences documented by people, then the world will be a better place to live in.
© 2022 April 1 P. A. Regoniel
