Extreme Weather and the Climate Crisis: What You Need to Know

• This e-book explains the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, drought, wildfires, extreme heat, and extreme cold.
• The e-book ends with ideas for taking action, including talking about the climate crisis, learning more, writing a letter to the editor, and sharing climate content on social media.

Positives

• This e-book connects climate change to extreme weather events.
• Teachers can use this e-book to explain the difference between weather and climate and how climate change is making weather events more extreme.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Users must sign up or log in to access this e-book. To sign up, users must provide a first name, last name, zip code, and email address.
  

• The links on pages 5 and 7, the second link on page 9, and the second link on page 16 do not work.
  

Differentiation

• Teachers can divide students into groups. Each group can study one of six extreme weather events: hurricanes, flooding, droughts, wildfires, extreme heat, and extreme cold. Students can then report their findings and thoughts back to the entire class.
• Teachers could ask students to consider extreme weather from a future perspective. Current extreme weather events might seem tame compared to extreme weather events of the future. Ask students to consider how they would feel if they found out that the current wildfire season might be the least destructive fire season for the rest of their lives. 
• Other resources on this topic include this video on why climate change makes extreme weather worse, this lesson on the increase in wildfires, and this lesson on hurricanes and climate change.

Educators should note a misconception on page 7, line 1. When water vapor condenses it can form rain or snow, but it can also form other types of precipitation like sleet, hail, etc. The resource is suitable to provide knowledge on basic principles and processes involved in surface temperatures, evaporation, cloud formation, precipitation, extreme weather events, climate change, and impacts on humans. Thus, this resource is valid and recommended for teaching.