Frequency, Intensity of Extreme Weather Surprises Climate Scientists

From the West Coast of the United States to Canada, from Russia’s Siberia to Europe’s Rhineland, the past months have seen a series of extreme weather events — including abnormally high temperatures, forest fires and deadly flooding claiming the lives of hundreds of people.

In Canada, the coroner of British Columbia reported earlier this month that at least 486 sudden and unexpected deaths in a five-day period were mostly seniors living in unventilated homes who succumbed to heat exposure. A normal five-day period would see 165 unexpected deaths, she said.   Scientists are attributing the extreme weather to climate change and a series of recent studies warns more is to come.  Climatologists say it is a misnomer to dub what the world is seeing now "freak weather,” rather it is the unfolding of what they have been warning about — that rising carbon emissions lead to global warming and more extreme weather in the form of droughts, floods, heatwaves and storms. It is the new weather norm.