A new study showed that scientists can now spot the "fingerprint of climate change" on extreme weather events, reported the BBC. The researchers' analysis revealed the shocking impacts of the climate crisis on the most deadly weather events from the past 20 years.
What's happening?
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group at Imperial College London conducted the study, analyzing the 10 deadliest weather events that the International Disaster Database has registered since 2004.
These lethal storms, floods, and heat waves claimed the lives of more than 570,000 people, WWA scientists said.
The deadliest of these events, a 2011 drought in Somalia, killed an estimated 250,000 alone. Scientists found that the climate crisis affected the low rainfall that caused the drought, making it more likely and more extreme.
Dr. Friederike Otto, co-founder and lead of WWA, said, "This study should be an eye-opener for political leaders hanging on to fossil fuels that heat the planet and destroy lives."
"If we keep burning oil, gas and coal, the suffering will continue," she added, per BBC.
Researchers also examined the European heat waves of 2022 that caused the deaths of 53,000 people and the heatwave in France in 2015, which killed over 3,000 people and was made twice as likely because of the planet's overheating.
The floods in India in 2013 and the tropical cyclones in Bangladesh (2007), Myanmar (2008), and the Philippines (2013) were all more likely to occur and be more extreme because of the climate crisis, the study revealed.
Why is this study important?
Dr. Otto and a Dutch climatologist named Geert Jan van Oldenborgh created the study and conducted research that compared how likely a weather event was in the current climate versus in a world where the Industrial Revolution never happened — a world without billions of tons of carbon pollution in the atmosphere.
Roop Singh of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, which supports the WWA, warned: "With every fraction of a degree of warming, we will see more record-breaking events that push countries to the brink, no matter how prepared they are," per BBC.
While isolated weather events have always existed, this study confirms the scientific consensus that human-induced changes to the climate intensifies extreme weather events making them more likely, more extreme, and more deadly.
What's being done about rising global temperatures?
One of the most critical actions taking place to address the climate crisis is countries switching to renewable energy sources like solar and wind, reducing the burning of dirty energy sources.
Electrifying your own home and car reduces pollution output and helps make you — and your community — more resilient in the face of extreme weather events.
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