TORONTO – Spring-like temperatures in February or winter weather in June. Aside from the erratic weather Canadians across the country have endured these past few seasons, there are others signs that global warming is taking effect. Here are 5 things that warn of global warming heating up our neck of the woods.
1. Great Lakes are not freezing over, losing ice mass – According to a new study, the Great Lakes have lost more than two-thirds of their ice cover over the past four decades. Also, most of the water in the Great Lakes hasn’t frozen over this year – largely because of a warmer-than-usual winter.
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2. Opossums spreading across the GTA– According to scientists with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the increased sightings of opossums in Toronto can be attributed to climates warming up, as the animals would have a tendency to expand north with warming climate conditions.
3. Rising carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures are driving the growth of the very plants that make us sneeze, wheeze, and sniffle each spring, summer, and fall, says this report. Due to milder weather, spring allergies could come earlier.
4. Jefferson salamanders, found only in Southern Ontario, have caused road closures as they migrate to cross roads and to lay eggs. Usually breeding in late March or April, they’re already breeding since temperatures are so mild in the region.
5. According to a new study in Nature Climate Change, Greenland’s ice sheets are melting faster than previously thought. An increase in global temperature of less than 2 C could spell the end of Greenland’s ice sheet.
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