Wild weather this year shows growing impact of climate change, scientists say

(Reuters, 10 Sep 2020) Scientists are getting better at tracking the links between global warming and intensifying heatwaves, wildfires, storms and extreme rainfall.

The planet is showing signs it's in peril. In recent weeks, the world has seen ferocious wildfires in the U.S. West, torrential rains in Africa, weirdly warm temperatures on the surface of tropical oceans, and record heat waves from California to the Siberian Arctic.

This spate of wild weather is consistent with climate change, scientists say, and the world can expect even more extreme weather and higher risks from natural disasters as global emissions of greenhouse gases continue.

"We are seeing the emergence of some signals that would have had almost no chance of happening without human-induced climate change," said Sonia Seneviratne, a climate scientist at Swiss university ETH Zurich.

Advances in a relatively new field known as "event attribution science" have enabled researchers to assess how big a role climate change might have played in a specific case.

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Reuters, 10 Sep 2020: Wild weather this year shows growing impact of climate change, scientists say