Expert Says Warming Link To Europe Floods "Plausible"

In Europe, masses of air loaded with water were blocked at high altitude by cold temperatures, leading them to stagnate for four days over the region and dump torrents of rain, Jean Jouzel, a climatologist and former vice-president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said.

With extreme weather killing more than 150 people in Europe and searing heat across parts of North America, the debate around climate change has grown more fierce in recent weeks.  But can global warming really be blamed for these very different, isolated events in different parts of the world? According to Jean Jouzel, a climatologist and former vice-president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is a "plausible" link, though it has not been proven yet. "Unfortunately, we are in the early stages of global warming, and what lies ahead will be even worse," he told AFP.