Climate change and global warming have now become household phrases, with many people fearing the worst.

But scientists from five different institutions from around Florida, including Florida State, just released a study that turns a global topic, into a local one.

Vasu Misra, FSU Meteorologist says, "Every so often, La Nina or El Nino affect you probably in the same way that climate change will probably affect you 80 years down the lane."

Because of La Nina, North Florida is in the middle of an extreme drought, seeing rainfall more than 25 inches below average since the start of the year.

Evidence of a drier than normal year are all around us, including right behind me in the Apalachicola National Forest. Climatologists say you can't blame one single year on global climate change, they do say it is timely for a study like this to be released.

The southeast U.S. is a perfect "natural laboratory" to test climate change theories according to FSU climatologists.

Some theories say recent drought and possibly stronger than normal hurricanes could result if current trends continue.

Mark Powell, NOAA Scientist says, "It doesn't necessarily mean damage will go up, because damage from a storm depends on how large the storm is, but it's something we have to be very concerned about."

But scientists do hope everyone will do their part to ensure we won't be concerned about climate change in the future.

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