The way I think of global warming is just that the atmosphere as a whole is containing more energy. If this idea is translated to simple and easy to understand

The way I think of global warming is just that the atmosphere as a whole is containing more energy. If this idea is translated to simple and easy to understand mathematical models, wild behavior results as a direct outcome. The simplest version of this is the period-doubling bifuration: X(n+1) = r * Xn * (1 - Xn) "r" is the amount of energy in the system (i.e., heat in the atmosphere) and Xn is the severity of the behavior. The insight is that while the "severity" naturally goes up as the "energy" goes up, once you get to a certain point, the severity goes both well above and below the "natural" level in unpredictable ways. In other words, a more energetic atmosphere leads to both much hotter and colder days. The Lorenz attractor was described in a very similar way, related to turbulence and temperature gradients. It's not weather or climate, but I do find it a useful analogy.