Extreme Weather: The New Normal

Written by David Michaelis

A new report is out that links what extreme weather events in 2014 can be linked to global warming.

aNewDomain — From the extreme wildfires in California to tropical cyclones in Hawaii to warmer-than-ever winters in the Midwest, you’ve probably already felt some of the effects of climate change, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
stormcloudsCheck out this report.“Explaining Extreme Events of 2014 from a Climate Perspective,” from the American Meteorological Society, discusses climate events in North America in 2014. And it discusses how and whether they can be specifically related to climate change.

For instance, climate change increases the probability of California wildfires, the report says, but a link between 2014 fires and climate change was not made.

On the other hand, climate change and land use both played a role in the flooding that occurred in the southeastern Canadian Prairies, the report said.

The report was authored by a scientific team including reps from 32 research groups around the world. The team analyzed  28 different storms, droughts, fires and floods in an effort to study the role of human-driven climate change and land development on extreme weather.

For aNewDomain, I’m David Michaelis.