Global warming and climate change explained

EARTH — There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to what are the causes and, most importantly, the effects of global warming and climate change. Here they are, explained.

Welcome to 2019, where people believe the Earth is flat, vaccines cause autism and climate change isn't real… What is going on in this world?

Even 'Murica's Commander in Chief's tweeted that it "wouldn't be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!" following reports of cold weather in some regions of the US.

Unfortunately for The Donald, facts are facts and a cold winter does not disprove global warming, in fact, it is a result of it. Let us explain.

The terms "weather" and "climate" are not interchangeable. Weather refers to daily variations in temperature, precipitation, wind etc. And, according to the NOAA, climate is the average weather conditions of an area over at least a 30-year period.

Global warming refers to the gradual increase of the Earth's average temperature. The sudden rise in temperature in recent years is primarily attributed to the increasing presence of greenhouse gases caused by human activity.

These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

Climate change refers to changes in weather patterns in Earth over an extended period of time. These changes are natural, however, activities including fossil fuel combustion, land use, deforestation, and agriculture magnify these changes.

Research published in 2018 in Nature Communications explained that the record-breaking cold weather and polar vortex disruptions are caused by Arctic warming.

Fast flowing air currents located in the Earth's northern hemisphere called jet streams are responsible for weather fluctuations around the globe. These winds move from east-to-west and are pushed by the difference between Arctic and tropical air.

Higher temperatures in the Arctic make the jetstream move further south. This fluctuation causes places located to the South of the Arctic to experience colder winters.

So there you have it, folks. Human activity is unnaturally raising the average temperature of the Earth and this, in turn, affects jetstreams which are largely responsible for fluctuations in weather — hot and cold.

A paper published in the journal Science Advances states that instances of extreme weather could increase by up to 50 percent in 2100.