![]() ![]() The practice is called attribution science. ![]() But since 2015, an international group of scientists known as World Weather Attribution (WWA) has developed a method for determining the extent to which the intensity of a weather event is linked to the climate crisis. While the overall impact of warming on global weather cannot be denied, scientists have long been reluctant to pinpoint climate change as the cause for individual events. “The beginning of summer this year, just like last year, shows that the warnings are already a reality,” says Yiou. Climate experts from the UN announced a “code red for humanity” in a 2021 report that said that heatwaves, floods and other extreme weather events would increase in an “unprecedented” way, in terms of frequency, scale, areas impacted and periods of the year when they may occur. Heavy downpours can kick start floods or landslides.Ĭlimatologists such as Yiou say this vicious cycle is cause for alarm. One heatwave can intensify a drought or cause forest fires. ![]() The opposite, when a bubble of warm air collides with cool air at ground level, can cause heatwaves. These conflicts can cause phenomena such as “cold drops” when a bubble of cold air collides with warmer temperatures close to the ground causing heavy rain and storms. Global warming creates, for example, favourable conditions for conflicts of air masses between the ground and high altitudes. “Rising temperatures at the poles disturb wind energy and, therefore, the alternation in cyclones and anticyclones.” “It is disrupting the whole dynamic of the atmosphere,” he says. While it is not unusual for such events to occur in tandem, there is still the question of why they are occurring with such intensity. A cyclone or a heatwave in the US has repercussions on the whole planet contributing to monsoons in India, for example.” “These meteorological phenomena are interconnected. These extreme weather events happing at almost the same time in multiple locations around the world are “absolutely not a coincidence", says Pascal Yiou, climatologist and researcher at French research centre le Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement. 'Interconnected phenomena' intensified by climate change The following day, a pine forest south of Rome was the starting point for a forest fire. On Saturday, July 2, for the first time ever, temperatures of 10☌ were recorded at the summit of the Marmolada glacier, in the Italian Alps.Īs a result of the heatwave, part of the glacier detached itself and fell, killing 11 people. In Sicily, highs in the commune of Floridia hit 46☌. Rome spent multiple days baking in 38☌ heat. In early July, a state of emergency was declared in five regions in the north of Italy where records for high temperatures were broken one after the other. > Mega drought in US spells trouble for Hoover Dam reservoir This year, however, experts are concerned that reservoir levels will fall so low that the Hoover Dam will no longer be able to produce electricity for hundreds of thousands of American homes. Such consistently high temperatures broke records for the time of year, and were swiftly followed by torrential rains across the Japanese archipelago.Īcross the Pacific Ocean, the western states of the US have been hit by significant droughts that are becoming an annual event. The mercury rose to 35☌ for consecutive days in the capital, Tokyo, and up to 40☌ in Isesaki in the centre of the country. This comes after France, Portugal and Spain experienced heatwaves in June, and Spain recorded the hottest May weather since the beginning of the century.įirefighters in France have already raised concerns over the increased possibility of wildfires due to dry, hot weather.Īt the end of June, Japan too was hit by an unprecedented heatwave. The exceptionally warm weather will also hit the Iberian peninsula, with temperatures over 40☌ in Spain and Portugal, and the UK. In France, a particularly intense heatwave is set to start on July 11, lasting over a week with temperatures of more than 38☌ in a large portion of the country. ![]()
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