Unusually warm March weather is the upper Midwest, deadly early wildfires in Colorado, a devastating drought in Texas, early tornadoes ripping across the countryside. All of these unusual weather events are probably linked to Climate Change according to a new study by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research.
Link builds between weather extremes and warming
By Nina Chestney
(Reuters) - Extreme weather events over the past decade have increased and were "very likely" caused by manmade global warming, a study in the journal Nature Climate Change said on Sunday.
Scientists at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Research used physics, statistical analysis and computer simulations to link extreme rainfall and heat waves to global warming. The link between warming and storms was less clear.
"Single weather extremes are often related to regional processes, like a blocking high pressure system or natural phenomena like El Nino," said Stefan Rahmstorf, co-author of the study and chair of the institute's earth system analysis department.
"These are complex processes that we are investigating further. But now these processes unfold against the background of climatic warming. That can turn an extreme event into a record-breaking event."
Everybody talks about the unusual weather, but our politicians don't want to talk about Climate Change despite that it keeps raining blows down on Americans in the form of extreme weather events. President Obama couldn't even bring himself to mention Climate Change in his State of the Union Address this year.
Its time our politicians start to connect the dots between our extreme weather events and Climate Change.