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Did climate change contribute significantly to the July heatwave in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada?

Saturday, July 10, 2021
By Seth Borenstein
YES

The deadly heat wave was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, according to an analysis by an international team of 27 scientists.

“Without climate change this event would not have happened,” said study senior author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford.

The July 7 study from the team, World Weather Attribution, calculated that climate change increased chances of the extreme heat occuring by at least 150 times, but likely much more.

The study, which has yet to be peer reviewed, also found that in the Pacific Northwest and Canada climate change was responsible for about 3.6 degrees (2 degrees Celsius) of the heat shock. The scientists used computer modeling and simulations, which is a well-established method to determine climate change’s role in extreme weather, according to the National Academy of Sciences.  

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