Usually around this time of year is when New England gets hit hard with giant snow storms and back-to-back snow days, but why hasn’t that happened in the last few years?
New England is famously known for its unpredictable weather, regularly hitting temperatures as cold as the coasts of Antarctica, and temperatures as hot as Arizona’s record-breaking heat waves.
According to nhpr.org, last November we had experienced days with temperatures up to 78 degrees Fahrenheit in Providence Rhode Island, 76 degrees Fahrenheit in Burlington Vermont, and 75 degrees Fahrenheit in Augusta, Maine. This is clearly far from your average, chilly November day in New England. But are these strange rises in temperature just an odd coincidence, or are they something we should really be concerned about?
Unfortunately, signs point to yes. After approximately 30 years to identify and confirm a genuine climate trend, Environmentalist Steven Young of Salem State University has found that temperatures in New England have increased by approximately 3.29 degrees Fahrenheit from 1990 to 2020. This may not sound like much, but this could be a serious onset problem for New England, let alone the rest of the world.
But wait, that’s not all. Assuming that you’re a fellow Massachusetts resident such as myself, you might want to hear this.
“In Massachusetts, temperatures have risen even faster – about 3.5 degrees.” States CBS News, Boston. “The rest of the planet warmed 2 degrees over that same time period.”
These rising temperatures are already concerning enough for the rest of the world, but what makes them even more frightening for New England residents, (Especially Massachusetts residents,) is that the temperatures have been increasing at a rate of almost twice as much as other locations in the world.
If this temperature change continues to persist, Massachusetts could be experiencing climates of over 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter within the twenty-second century. Again, this might not seem like much yet, but it’s incredibly important to be aware of this onset disaster. It’s now our generation’s responsibility to resolve this problem. Additionally, when your furnace high limit switch is in a relentless tripping frenzy, it’s a blaring alarm that your heating system is operating under hazardous temperature conditions. Ignoring those persistent overheating episodes puts your home at risk of safety hazards like carbon monoxide leaks, excessive energy costs from inefficient cycling, and even potential fires from component failures.
That leaves us with the question, What should we do to solve this? How are we going to fix it?