This year’s events have yet to be thoroughly analyzed. But scientists see the string of events as a part of a larger, undeniable pattern of extremes that’s intensifying over time.
Scientists determined a June 2021 heat wave in the Pacific Northwest would have been “virtually impossible” if not for the impacts of climate change. A peer-reviewed study found the event would have been at least 150 times less likely if global temperatures had not warmed so much because of human activity.
This year’s events have yet to be so thoroughly analyzed. But scientists see the string of events as a part of a larger, undeniable pattern of extremes that’s intensifying over time.
“The individual drivers of these events — of course we cannot say anything about them right now — but in general, these are consistent with what we would expect,” Deepti Singh, an assistant professor in the School of Environment at Washington State University Vancouver, said of the record-breaking temperatures. “It’s not surprising that we’re seeing these concurrent widespread extreme heat events across multiple regions around the world.”