Written by: Corey Verkouteren (csv002@marietta.edu)
Returning students and those that live around Marietta may have forgot that fall was happening this year thanks to the uncharacteristic high temperatures. Particularly, those out on Tuesday the 5th got a little aftertaste of summer with a high of 81 degrees Fahrenheit! This sparks the question, are we just imagining things or is this the new normal for Marietta?
Historically, this time of year has been getting warmer, though this year certainly sets a record. The graph shows the average high temperature this year in red and the average low temperature in blue. According to timeanddate.com; which stores historical information of weather, sun positions, and other similar data all the way back to the 2010s, the closest it’s been to this temperature was in 2020 with a high of 77 degrees. Weatherspark, a similar website, lists the average high in November over the past nine years as just 62 degrees Fahrenheit.
So why is it so warm, and should we be concerned? Well, as you might expect, climate change is the main cause. Though we are in a natural “warming stage” of the planet, it has been sped up by the insulating blanket of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that we contribute to. In the short term, we can expect warmer temperatures around this time of year to continue for the foreseeable future.
“A sign of the times we are in,” said meteorologist Jim Dale on The Independent.
For us in Marietta, climate change may lead to a rise in the Ohio River water level as global water levels rise, potentially leading to more floods like we saw earlier this year. For now, though, look forward to more manageable temperatures in the near future.
Edited by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
