Everyone gathered in Glasgow for the COP26 climate conference is aware that the world is heating up and human activity is responsible—but how much of an individual weather event can be attributed to climate change? A strange and dangerous one occurred this summer. As a historic heat wave paralyzed the North American Pacific coast on June 28, a group led by researchers in the U.K. and Netherlands called World Weather Attribution gathered virtually to start a task that just a few years earlier many had considered impossible. They would rapidly diagnose climate change’s impact on weather. Within nine days, they reported that the unprecedented temperatures were “virtually impossible” without climate change. Greenhouse gases made them likelier by at least a factor of 150. CANADA BC Vancouver Pacific Ocean Urban areas Seattle WA ID Portland OR Hotter than normal Difference between hottest 2021 temperature and avg. annual peak temperatures CANADA […]