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Climate Warming Raises Extreme Weather
Coverage from PBS News, Nature, and others
Articles
68
Active Days
152
The Topic
Research and event-attribution analyses indicate that human-caused warming is making some extreme heat events more likely and more severe, while projections show a shift toward larger and more damaging hail in several mid-latitude regions. The consequences include greater risks to health, buildings, vehicles, crops, solar panels, and other infrastructure. Regional outcomes vary, and declining aerosols can influence European circulation, but greenhouse-gas warming remains the dominant driver identified in the material.
First Article: 02/24/26
Latest Article: 07/25/26
Summary
- Heat and humidity across the eastern United States, northeastern United States, and eastern Canada were assessed as effectively impossible in the pre-industrial climate.
- Europe’s heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense; declining aerosol pollution may influence atmospheric circulation but does not replace greenhouse gases as the main warming driver.
- Global hail projections point to more large stones and greater damage potential by late century, especially across mid-latitude regions.
- The largest projected hail increases include parts of Argentina, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. Northern Plains, while some tropical areas may see less hail as smaller stones melt more readily.
- Extreme heat is already producing health emergencies, event disruptions, wildfire conditions, and elevated mortality concerns.
- Future losses will depend not only on hazard intensity but also on exposure, land use, construction quality, and resilience.
History
The update slightly sharpens the framing of the climate impacts, especially by emphasizing that some extreme heat events were effectively impossible before industrial-era warming. It also narrows the hail story with a more specific regional projection for the U.S. Northern Plains and adds a clearer statement that greenhouse gases remain the dominant driver.
The story broadens beyond Europe-centric heat and rain attribution to a wider transatlantic heat-and-hail risk picture, with new emphasis on exceptionally improbable preindustrial heat events in North America and Europe and on future large-hail damage potential. It also reframes the impacts more concretely around health, events, and infrastructure exposure.
Featured
05-27-2026
A Nature study projects larger, more damaging hail will increase 38% to 47% by late century due to fossil-fuel-driven warming.
05-27-2026
Zhang et al. (Nature, 2026) project end-of-century increases in hailstorm damage potential worldwide, with stronger impacts in mid-latitudes and reductions in tropics and subtropics.
07-03-2026
World Weather Attribution scientists used wet bulb globe temperature to estimate human-caused warming increased Northeast US and eastern Canada heat-wave likelihood.
Timeline: 152 Days
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Additional Articles
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Scientists respond to claims in European media that falling pollution caused heatwaves, citing a Geophysical Research Letters study that finds greenhouse-gas warming is the primary driver for Europe.
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World Weather Attribution linked recent US and European extreme heat to human-caused warming as Copernicus recorded record ocean temperatures and the WMO forecast likely strong El Nino.
World Weather Attribution reported human-caused warming made a North American heat dome far more likely, driving health impacts and disrupting major events in 2026.
World Weather Attribution reported that human-caused climate change greatly increased the likelihood of record Western Europe heatwave night temperatures in the 2020s.
World Weather Attribution assessed a 26-28 June Europe heatwave, finding unprecedented heat and humidity strongly linked to global warming and major health-risk inequities.
World Weather Attribution reported human-caused climate change increased the likelihood of Europe June heat records, including major UK and France temperature highs.
A June heatwave across France and the UK prompted rapid weather attribution findings that human-caused climate change made record temperatures far more likely.
Carbon Brief summarized extreme-event attribution research linking climate change to UK heat extremes, European and North American wildfires, and late-June West African flood rainfall.
Studies attribute increased Atlantic hurricane intensity to human-caused warming, projecting more Category 4-5 storms and higher damage potential with further warming.
World Weather Attribution says a Europe heatwave in 2026 is far more likely today due to human-caused warming, based on comparisons with 1976 and 2003.
John Allen, Andreas Prein, and Walker Ashley discuss study findings that human-caused warming may increase large hail and widen Europe’s economic losses.
WHO warned that a record heat wave in Europe increased health risks and said climate change made the event far more likely.
France’s public health agency reported 1,000 excess deaths during a June 20 European heatwave as older adults and multiple countries faced record temperatures.
Nature modeling suggests human-caused warming will increase giant hail frequency by 2100, with larger risk increases at higher latitudes in regions such as the United States and Europe.
World Weather Attribution assessed a record-severe June heatwave across Western and Central Europe, attributing increased intensity and likelihood to human-caused climate change.
World Weather Attribution researchers linked a Western Europe heat wave in 2026 to human-caused warming from fossil fuel burning, using comparisons with past events.
Two studies project poleward and seasonal shifts in hail risk, with larger hailstones, affecting northern Europe, Canada, and parts of Australia and New Zealand.
Peking University-led and Nature Climate Change studies using climate simulations project increased hail damage potential in mid-high latitudes under warming.
National Academies committee reviews how scientists use data and climate models to attribute extreme events to human-caused warming and quantify confidence limits.
WHO and WMO reported excess heat deaths in Europe after a late June 2026 heat wave, with climate attribution indicating events more than 100-year rare conditions.
World Weather Attribution scientists reported on a June Europe heatwave after event analyses showed human-caused warming drove record temperatures and heat stress risk.
International researchers using weather data and computer models reported on drought attribution across Europe, emphasizing hotter atmospheric heat as the main driver.
World Weather Attribution scientists reported that a Western Europe heat wave became far more likely and hotter due to human-driven global warming, with health risks elevated by wet-bulb record breaks.
World Weather Attribution quantified fossil-fuel-driven warming effects on a June European humid heat wave across 30 countries starting June 18.
World Weather Attribution researchers report climate change increased the likelihood of US extreme heat and humidity as WBGT records are expected for World Cup matches in Philadelphia.
World Weather Attribution linked a late-June European heat wave to climate change influence as multiple countries recorded hottest-ever temperatures and thousands of excess deaths.
World Weather Attribution assessed a June 18 European heat wave and reported that climate change made record heat roughly 200 times more likely than two decades ago.
World Weather Attribution researchers assessed a Western Europe heatwave on June 26 as far more likely and intense because of human-caused climate change.
World Weather Attribution reported that a western Europe heatwave in early summer is largely driven by human-caused climate change, with counterfactuals showing much cooler 1976 conditions.
World Weather Attribution reported that human-induced climate change increased Belgium soil-dryness likelihood, using observation and model comparisons for European regions.
On July 23, an international team reported that human-caused warming intensified Europe drought risk by increasing heat-driven moisture loss during the June heatwave.
World Weather Attribution researchers concluded that a 2026 early-July heatwave like the Fourth of July records in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Atlantic City would be virtually impossible pre-industrial.
World Weather Attribution analyzed a June 18 Europe heat wave and found fossil-fuel-driven climate change greatly increased likelihood and heat-stress risk.
World Weather Attribution and climate experts assess Europe extreme heat as climate-change driven while New England forecasts triple-digit temperatures near Boston.
A World Weather Attribution study attributes record wet-bulb globe temperatures in the United States and southern Canada to human-driven climate change, affecting World Cup heat safety in Philadelphia.
World Weather Attribution scientists reported in June that fossil fuel-driven climate change made a European heatwave far more likely and severe, with record wet-bulb temperatures and health impacts across multiple countries.
Spanish researchers and the UK Met Office linked western Europe heatwave intensification to Montreal Protocol-era reductions in sulphate particles by altering solar absorption and air circulation.
Andrew Dessler explains 2020s-era extreme event attribution methods, quantifying how human warming changes likelihood and intensity of heatwaves and other extremes.
Attribution science uses climate-model counterfactuals to quantify how human-caused warming increased risks during events such as the 2021 Pacific Northwest heatwave.
Researchers from Peking University reported in Nature on April 28 that warming could increase hailstone size and damage in many regions, with varying risk worldwide.
Copernicus data and World Weather Attribution analyses attribute a Europe spring heat dome to human-driven climate change, with risks amplified by Arctic-linked warming feedbacks.
World Weather Attribution in June found Western Europe extreme heat was human-caused and would have been near impossible 50 years ago.
World Weather Attribution linked a late-June Europe heatwave to anthropogenic climate change using observed and forecast data, while finding no El Nino role.
Researchers describe extreme event attribution methods that quantify human-caused warming impacts on heat, heavy rainfall, tropical cyclones, and droughts, with confidence varying by hazard.
Peking University and Nature Climate Change studies project poleward, winter-shifted hail risk and larger hailstones under climate warming across northern mid-high latitudes.
Researchers studying a May 3 Paris hailstorm reported that human-caused warming increased hail probability and hailstone size in France and Germany.
350.org reports a late-June 2026 heatwave increased Germany and France electricity costs by over 700 million euros, with attribution tied to fossil-fuel climate change.
Gottfried Kirchengast and team unveil a hazard metric for Europe linking extreme heat to human driven climate change during 2010-2024.
World Weather Attribution links increased rainfall intensity to human emissions in Spain, Portugal and Morocco since January.
Climate risk research draft outlines extreme event attribution methods that use counterfactual simulations and observations to quantify human contributions to heat and rainfall extremes.
DW fact-checks European heat-wave misinformation during 40C-plus temperatures, using World Weather Attribution rapid findings linking the event to climate change.
Roger Pielke Jr. argues European heat-wave mitigation benefits from CO2 cuts unfold over decades, with atmospheric circulation and aerosol unmasking dominating near-term timing.
Roger Pielke Jr. attributes worsening European heat waves to greenhouse warming plus regional soil moisture, aerosol, circulation, and urban heat island effects rather than direct control of individual events.
A climate policy and attribution discussion links European heatwave records, including Denmark 37 C, to faster emissions cuts through stronger legal enforcement mechanisms.
Researchers and organizations use weather attribution to connect a Britain and Europe heatwave to man-made climate change while debating how to quantify resulting deaths and economic losses.
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Carbon Brief published a climate science and policy roundup in which multiple studies quantify how climate change alters extreme weather likelihood or intensity across different regions.
World Weather Attribution linked a France heat wave to human-caused climate change in a period of about 1,300 excess deaths since June 21.
Colorado lawmakers passed Senate Bill 155 after hail-linked premium increases, aiming to fund hail-proof roofing grants as climate change increases hailstorm risk.
During a 350.org briefing, CNRS and Climate Central scientists said attribution of severe heatwaves and droughts should prioritize greenhouse-gas warming over El Nino.
NOAA NCEI reported early 2026 global temperatures among the warmest on record while reported administration changes reduce climate data visibility and continuity.
Northern Illinois University climate research in 2024 predicts more golf ball-size hail in a warmer, more unstable atmosphere, including stronger thunderstorm updrafts over Wisconsin.
Victor Gensini of Northern Illinois University reports a record Illinois hailstone after a Tuesday storm near Kankakee.
Heatwaves across Europe and eastern North America set new records as climate attribution links worse heat to fossil fuel emissions and heightened health risks.
During a European heatwave, climate misinformation and denial narratives resurfaced online as EDMO fact-checks and Eurobarometer data showed continued support for climate action.
Copernicus reported record ocean-surface temperatures in June as extreme heat during the July 4 weekend raised public and political disputes over climate science.