Direct links between climate change and extreme weather still unclear

Science : A collection of 22 independent studies of 16 extreme weather events since 2013 were published as Explaining Extreme Events of 2013 from a Climate Perspective, a special supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Five of the studies focused on the extended period of record heat that Australia has experienced since the summer of 2013. All five agreed that human activity had increased both the likelihood and severity of the heat wave. None of the other studies was able to connect climate change to specific events, such as California’s prolonged drought and Colorado’s extreme rainfalls. Because the attempt to connect climate change and specific weather is a new area of study (called attribution research) and involves a large number of variables, it is not surprising that the number of connections found was low. However, Thomas Peterson of the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, and coeditor of the report says it is promising that multiple studies found the same connection regarding Australia’s heat wave.