USM Faculty Member Weighs in on Causes, Impacts of Extreme Temperatures, Climate Change

Thu, 08/10/2023 - 12:58pm | By: David Tisdale

Hot summers in Mississippi and throughout the South are the norm, but this year’s weather is bringing record-breaking, triple-digit temperatures across the country and around the world. Poor air quality from fires across the U.S. and Canada have also added into the mix, and storm activity considered unusual for this time of year raises questions and concern about what is to come.

University of Southern Mississippi (USM) assistant professor of geography Dr. Kayla Stan, a native of Canada who joined the faculty of the School of BEES’ (Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences) Geography and Geology Program in 2022, is an expert on human-environment interactions, as well as sustainable development and planning and economic geography. According to Dr. Stan, multiple factors and their impacts play into the weather extremes we’re experiencing and understanding differences between weather and climate also bring clarity to ongoing situations concerning both.

“Having hot days, or even hot years, doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is going to start boiling forever, just like one year of drought, while frustrating for people who rely on the land doesn’t mean there will always be drought,” Dr. Stan explained. “Part of what is playing into the heat is likely El Nino (an irregularly recurring flow of unusually warm surface waters from the Pacific Ocean that disrupts weather patterns), and with that if it sticks around for the winter, we should probably see a bit of a wetter winter down here (in Mississippi and the South) in theory.

“Where this starts to get concerning is if we see a pattern of this over decades. And this is where we get into some of the very common misconceptions surrounding climate change, a main one being “If the temperature as a whole is warming, how come we got some of the coldest days on record around Christmas in the south this past winter?” And just as in weather, lots of factors play into it - so just because climate, the combination of weather patterns over decades, is warming or changing, that doesn’t mean you cannot get unseasonably hot years or unseasonably cold years. And if next year we have a summer with temperatures in the 60s, that doesn’t mean the climate isn’t changing.”

Dr. Stan went on to note that, on average, if hotter summers are in the offing over the course of decades, then we may expect to see that phenomenon more often as the climate shifts, while also being impacted by shorter term weather factors like El Nino and atmospheric circulation.

The concern, she emphasizes, is that things on the extremes shift with climate change.

“So instead of a heatwave that might happen once every 10 years, or a flood that happens once every 50 years, or a hurricane that happens once every 100 years, those extremes might show up more frequently,” Dr. Stan continued. “Maybe that massive hurricane starts appearing once a decade, and the floods happen every eight years, and the heat wave happens every 2-3 years. Those are the concerns when we hear things like the record-breaking heat this year, or the fires burning clear across Canada or the floods that are causing massive damage throughout Asia.

“In general, we seem to be breaking heat and high intensity precipitation records more frequently, so we can probably expect more along those lines. Not every summer will be this hot for this long, but they will probably happen more often, and the same with very high intensity rainfalls, which is a fairly common trend that is being seen as well.”

Dr. Stan frequently fields questions about the weather and climate change from students and others, including about whether the fires that have raged across her native Canada this year are normal; meanwhile, as she attempts to acclimate to summers in Mississippi, she asks in response if current temperature here are normal.

“From what I have heard from the folks who have been down here longer than I have, this summer has been unseasonably warm even for Mississippi, and likewise in Canada,” she said. “And while it is very common for Alberta and British Columbia to have fires, the seasons started far earlier and were far worse than normal, and the fires that happened in Quebec are rather out of the ordinary. We wonder, then, how out of the ordinary are these events.”

She’s hopeful that as more awareness builds about what’s happening to the planet in connection with human activity it will lead to an increase in action taken by governments, public and private entities, as well as individuals, to mitigate the factors impacting our world’s weather and climate.

“Looking at adaptation strategies is going to be critical, particularly at a local level,” she continued. “So how you are designing spaces can have an impact. For example, can you maximize air flow or change the building structures and materials to repel heat, or increase green spaces or boulevard style roads to increase shaded areas, and look at neighborhood design to improve walkability.

“Also, for local governments and organizations, making sure to work to reduce things like power outages needs to be prioritized. No one wants the power to go out in Canada when it is minus-40 degrees, and no one wants it to go out here when it is 100 degrees-plus. And who knows what sorts of technologies we will see coming out of companies to try to work on mitigating some of the changes or improving adaptation, though we always must be mindful of the unintended consequences.”

Further, weather and climate change impacts on commerce, economic development and public services are issues that often go overlooked when the focus is on unbearably hot temperatures or erratic, unseasonable weather.

“In the case of the record-breaking heat, if you consider someone who works out in the baking sun, such as in construction, agriculture, fishing, forestry, even those who work in public safety - this kind of heat over extended periods of time impacts the economy,” Dr. Stan emphasized. “Those working in what’s considered hard-labor occupations too often end up either taxing their bodies far more, so you see increases in health emergencies like heat stroke, which then taxes the medical system. And then, their productivity goes down because they must take time off to recover, or they have to take more breaks, so they don't get heat stroke, so then industry efficiency starts dropping, then supply drops, prices increase, and so forth. 

“The same sort of thing goes for higher proportions of high intensity precipitation. If it is pouring rain, it’s pretty tough to roof a house or pave a road. And most people don't really talk about those situations regarding climate change and severe weather.” 

On an individual level, Dr. Stan encourages mindfulness in taking simple steps to reduce personal impacts, also known as our “carbon footprint”, on the environment.

“When you aren’t home, turn off the air conditioning, and turn it up a few degrees every couple of weeks so it isn’t quite as cold,” she said. “You adjust to it, it reduces power, and that reduces your energy bill. Doing things like that helps. Also, walking or riding your bike to places you need to go to that are nearby - if you can safely get there, instead of driving – is also helpful.

“Last year, I heard from my students that it was unseasonably wet here, so I imagine some years like that will occur more frequently as well. In general, one of the things with climate change is that there seems to be more instability. But to prepare for the heat turning up further during our Mississippi summers, having plenty of water, a good fan and clothing that allows air movement seem to be the keys to adapting with the new weather perspective I’ve gained from living here.”

Learn more about Dr. Kayla Stan and the USM School of BEES.