Essay by Eric Worrall
Climate change could be supercharging the weather this year – but we’re not sure exactly how?
How El Niño, climate change and warming oceans could combine to supercharge the world’s weather
By weather reporter Tyne Logan
…
Of course, in any one year there is always going to be extreme weather events.
But Dr Gallant said this year, records were not just being broken — they were being smashed.
“It’s really made us stand up and take notice, because it’s not just in one place,” she said.
A sign of what’s to come
It is still too too early to say whether the individual weather events were made more likely by climate change, or other natural influences like El Niño.
But Dr Gallant said what was clear was the nature of weather events had changed, and it told a story of what the world may be in for in the year to come, particularly in the realm of heat.
“We’re entering territory where climate change is starting to become a much more dominant signal than it has been in the past, and things are only going to get more interesting,” she said.
…
How can Dr Gallant say the nature of weather events has changed, that the current cluster of weather events is a sign of things to come, while simultaneously admitting she doesn’t know whether climate change or the likely gathering El Nino has affected current weather events?
If Dr. Gallant was to make a firm statement, like “the incidence of extreme weather events will double over the next 10 years”, or “Antarctic sea ice will disappear completely by 2030”, those would be testable prediction.
But the global climate has a history of embarrassing climate scientists who make testable predictions.
Perhaps climate scientists have learned caution, through watching their colleagues endure multiple ice free arctic and end of snow humiliations over the years.
For more information on the claimed dangers of extreme events, go to our Claimed Dangers page on EverythingClimate.com
Or
Check our Failed Predictions Timeline
Correction (EW): h/y The Final Nail, he -> she.