Extreme Weather of Last Decade Linked to Global Warming

The past decade has been one of unprecedented weather extremes. Scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany argue that the high incidence of extremes is not merely accidental. Scientists are relating the increase in temperature and rainfall to human-caused global warming. In 2011 the US was hit by 14 extreme weather events that caused damages up to 1 billion dollars each. In most states the months of January to October were the wettest ever recorded. Japan also registered record rainfalls, while the Yangtze River basin in China suffered a record drought. In 2010, Western Russia experienced the hottest summer in centuries, while in Pakistan and Australia record-breaking amounts of rain fell. 2003 saw Europe´s hottest summer in at least half a millennium. The question is whether these weather extremes are coincidental or a result of climate change," says Dim Coumou, lead author of the article. "Global warming can generally not be proven to cause individual extreme events but in the sum of events the link to climate change becomes clear." "It is not a question of yes or no, but a question of probabilities," Coumou explains. The recent high incidence of weather records is no longer normal, he says. I think that these climate changes could be from global warming due to the fact that this has been an ongoing issue. Or maybe these major weather changes are just one big coincidence. My solution for the problem would be to work harder on the issue of global warming. The problem with this solution is getting people to actually get involved.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120325173206.htm