Can we weather this hot topic?

We are hot under the collar over the many shocking revelations by the new Government. But Aunty would like to talk about something else that is generating a lot of heat and definitely affects everyone too.

OF late, thunderstorms have become a scary thing for me. A recent drive home through fierce rain with repeated lightning flashes and ear-splitting thunder left me quite unnerved.

And that was quite unexpected as I am no stranger to stormy weather since I am a person who has lived her whole life in the tropics. In fact, I used to be quite amused that people from temperate countries were so awed by tropical thunderstorms.

This was especially so after my encounter with a tropical storm in the United States. That was in September 1999. I was in New York on assignment to cover the launch of a new skincare product.

Two weeks earlier, Hurricane Floyd had built up in the Caribbean and moved towards the US Eastern Seaboard. It hit the Bahamas as a Category Four hurricane, but progressively lost steam and was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached the mid-Atlantic states.

But the authorities took no chances. New York City stopped the subway, non-emergency city workers were ordered to go home and schools and businesses closed early.

My media event was cancelled and us journalists were told to stay put in our hotel – the Plaza next to Central Park, no less. With the extreme state of precautions taken and dire warnings, I imagined a storm of immense proportions. So, I pulled back the curtains and waited in great anticipation.

And raindrops fell very gently against my window. I didn’t see anything flying or crashing around. The sky did not light up with terrifying lightning and I don’t recall hearing thunder.

And that was it. Tropical Storm Floyd came and went and seemed like a complete washout to me. Thankfully so, because the rain stopped in time for me to watch Lion King on Broadway.

Although I wasn’t impressed by Floyd as it passed over Manhattan, the tropical storm caused extensive flooding and damage in New Jersey and New York. Many people had to evacuate their homes and highways closed for weeks.

That was 19 years ago and the weather has changed drastically. Climate change is upon us, brought about by global warming.

Earth’s surface temperature has gone up in the last 150 years, so much so that even the oceans are experiencing more heat waves that last longer and of course spell bad news for coral reefs, ice caps and marine life.

What’s more, the highest temperature ever measured anywhere for the month of April was recorded in the Pakistani city of Nawabshah: 50.2°C.

And with higher temperatures come more thunderstorms. That’s because the greater heat evaporates more water vapour into the atmosphere, which fuels storms.

Climate change has also produced more lightning strikes, a phenomenon that has led to more fires, even in high latitudes. Between 1975 and 2015, researchers found that 87% of large fires in interior Alaska were caused by lightning. Such lightning strikes are predicted to increase by 59% by the middle of this century.

Such findings should make us sit up because Malaysia, with Subang in the Klang Valley as the epicentre, already has the third highest number of lightning strikes in the world, after Venezuela and Congo.

Apart from increased lightning, storms also bring strong winds.

The Guardian reported that the United Kingdom is facing a sharp rise in wind storms, resulting in huge damage to property. A study by the insurance industry estimated that global warming could increase windstorm destruction by over 50% across the nation.

We got a taste of that too when strong winds during thunderstorms shattered glass panels at the Bukit Mertajam KTM station on May 29, ripped off the roof of a school in Telupid, Sabah on June 18 and uprooted large, old trees in Petaling Jaya’s Taman Jaya Park on June 22.

Clearly, 21st century storms are no laughing matter because they are a clear manifestation of global warming.

Malaysia’s mean surface temperatures have also increased from 0.6°C to 1.2°C over 50 years (1969-2009) and are projected to rise from 1.5-2°C by 2050, according to Dr Rawshan Ara Begum from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Climate Change.

Dr Rawshan reports that Malaysia, as a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement on carbon emission reductions, has achieved about 33% reduction of carbon emission intensity per unit of GDP.

This was made possible by mitigation actions such as implementing renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives, green technologies, sustainable forest management and sustainable waste management through recycling and effluent treatment under national policies like the National Policy on Climate Change and National Green Technology Policy.

All this was under what was known as the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. We have yet to see what form and function this ministry will take under the Pakatan Harapan government, but I do hope it will be given more clout and eminence, and will be headed by a truly environment-conscious minister.

We may be a small country, but we need to do our part because scientists believe they know how our planet will eventually end up if temperatures keep rising.

Earth will be like Venus, the planet next door whose size and mass are so similar to our planet, it’s called Earth’s twin.

According to Smithsonian.com, Venus is believed to have once had a liquid ocean that lasted for billions of years and could have easily harboured life forms. A build-up of carbon dioxide triggered an extreme global warming effect and destroyed its most habitable regions. Sound familiar?

Today, the surface temperature of Venus is 470°C and it is covered by clouds of sulphuric acid.

Earth already has acid rain because of the sulphuric dioxide emissions from power stations, airplanes and vehicles.

To me, it doesn’t seem far-fetched to think that Venus was destroyed by its inhabitants, who couldn’t stop spewing carbon dioxide and sulphuric acid into their planet’s atmosphere.

The next time it rains furiously with plenty of lightning, think of Venus and pray for Earth. The new environment minister will be announced next week; Aunty hopes the person can take the heat. Feedback to aunty@ thestar. com.my.