Fires, floods fit climate-change pattern
The planet seems to be having a midsummer breakdown. Scientists say it's a sign of troubling climate change.
Floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat: From smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Iowa and the Arctic, the planet seems to be having a midsummer breakdown. Scientists say it's a sign of troubling climate change.
The weather-related cataclysms of July and August fit patterns predicted by climate scientists, the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says, although scientists shy from linking individual disasters directly to global warming.
Experts see an urgent need for better ways to forecast such extreme events as Russia's heat wave and wildfires and the record deluge devastating Pakistan. They will discuss such tools in meetings this month and next in Europe and America, under U.N., U.S. and British sponsorship.
"There is no time to waste," because societies must be equipped to deal with global warming, British government climatologist Peter Stott said.
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