E-Mail
IMAGE: Changes in average start dates and lengths of the four seasons in the Northern
Hemisphere mid-latitudes for 1952, 2011 and 2100. view more
Credit: Wang et al 2020/Geophysical Research Letters/AGU.
WASHINGTON Without efforts to mitigate climate change, summers spanning nearly six months may become the new normal by 2100 in the Northern Hemisphere, according to a new study. The change would likely have far-reaching impacts on agriculture, human health and the environment, according to the study authors.
In the 1950s in the Northern Hemisphere, the four seasons arrived in a predictable and fairly even pattern. But climate change is now driving dramatic and irregular changes to the length and start dates of the seasons, which may become more extreme in the future under a business-as-usual climate scenario.