In the summer 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow, rapid climate change ices over New York-City and obliterates Los Angeles with tornadoes — all within the course of about a week. Every film employs a bit of dramatic license and this was no exception. Everyone knows climate can't change that quickly. But that's not to say that climate change happens at an orderly, glacial pace either. Though a general warming trend observed over the past half century seems subtle to most of us, Scripps geo-scientist Jeff Severinghaus and others have found that, throughout history, climate change has not always followed a neat progression. In the past, it has taken place in short, calamitous surges and bursts.
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