Spring officially arrived this week, even if the temperatures in much of the US are feeling more like summer. As Climate Central scientist Heidi Cullen puts it in a recentNew York Times op-ed:

"The first day of spring isn’t what it used to be. In fact, over the past several decades spring weather has been arriving earlier in most parts of the United States. This shift affects all aspects of life — from when flowers bloom to when animals migrate and have babies — the very things that make spring magical."

Winter 2012 was the fourth warmest on record in the US, and the warmer-than-usual March temps and the earlier arrival of spring not only causes havoc in how species interact (as Cullen explains) but also paves the way for severe weather, such as "super cell" thunderstorms and tornadoes, as we are seeing in Texas and other parts of the center of the country.

Global warming increases the risk of extreme weather events that threaten communities across the country.

For details on the record-setting events of 2011 (including those in your area), check out NRDC's Extreme Weather map.

According to a new report fromClimate Central, sea level rise due to global warming has already doubled the risk of coastal flooding across the United States. By 2030, many locations are likely to see sea level rise at least 4 feet above the local high-tide line. Nearly 5 million U.S. residents live on land below this level.

Titled “Surging Seas”, the report is the first to analyze how sea level rise caused by global warming is compounding the risk from storm surges throughout the coastal contiguous U.S.

The Surging Seas website includes a searchable, interactive map that shows risk zones and statistics for 3,000 coastal towns, cities, counties and states. As Climate Central staff scientist Ben Strauss commented, “To preserve our coastal towns, cities and treasures, the nation needs to confront greenhouse gas pollution today, while also preparing to address sea level rise that can no longer be avoided."

Surging Seas report available at ClimateCentral.org.

For more on the threat of rising sea levels, check out this recent story from the New York Times.

There's nothing like unseasonably hot weather to make people think global warming is real, but the American public still lacks significant knowledge about the science of climate change.

As Prof Andrew Hoffman of University of Michigan wrote in a Christian Science Monitor commentary this week:

"People must be educated about science and the scientific process if we are to make rational and informed decisions that affect our future. … [But] the relative absence of academics and academic scholarship in the public discourse creates a vacuum into which uninformed, wrong, and downright destructive viewpoints get voiced and take hold."

Climate scientists need to come down from their ivory towers and speak to the people in terms they can understand. The issues are too important for scientists to remain "lost in the academy."

But we can all have an impact. That's why we encourage you to learn as much as you can about the science of global warming, and work to educate your family and friends. And here's an idea: why not help educate your community by organizing a presentation in your area from an Al Gore-trained presenter from The Climate Reality Project?

Visit ClimateRealityProject.org to request a presentation.