The World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative has conducted numerous studies on the role of climate change in extreme weather events. Their 2024 findings cover a wide range of events, such as heatwaves, floods, hurricanes, and storms. In the few past months, they analyzed the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene (26/09/2024), concluding that climate change significantly increased the likelihood of such intense events, the flooding associated with exceptionally heavy rainfall in Central Europe in mid-September, the dramatic flash floods, landslides and riverine flooding in Nepal caused by extremely heavy rainfall (26-28/09/2024), the exceptionally heavy rainfall that hit eastern Spain (29-30/10/2024) with subsequent flooding that resulted in more than 200 deaths and more than 400 people’s displacement.
Their studies revealed overall that human-induced climate change made the rainfall during these storms up to 19% heavier than it would have been a century ago. The WWA approach combines weather observations with climate models to determine how climate change influences the intensity and probability of these extreme events. Moreover, the initiative emphasizes the role of exposure and vulnerability, noting that the impact of these extreme events is exacerbated by how and where people live and build infrastructure in high-risk areas.
Key Findings:
- Climate change made many extreme events, such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall, more likely or severe.
- Studies consistently show an increase in rainfall and intensity of storms due to warming, significantly influencing flood risks.
- Attribution science is critical for legal and policy applications, helping to link specific extreme events to climate change impacts.
Source: https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/
