BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Weather is becoming more extreme year-round and around the world as a result of climate change. New research has confirmed that the summer drought of 2022, driven by climate change, dried up rivers and triggered mass crop failures in North America, Asia, and Europe.
The analysis of this past summer’s drought by the World Weather Attribution Initiative found that the extreme weather would normally be something that only happened once every 400 years. The current climate crisis has made it a one-in-20-year event.
Researchers with the WWAI compared conditions under today’s climate with climate conditions as they existed before the late 1800’s, before advanced industrialization. They say that without climate change, thousands of people in Europe and Asia likely wouldn’t have died from soaring temperatures this summer.
At the same time, researchers at the University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences are predicting another La Niña winter this year. According to the researchers, the results of climate change favor La Niña winters.
La Niña is a weather phenomenon that affects rainfall, flooding, and drought around the Pacific Rim. These winters tend to be cooler and wetter in some areas, but in regions like the American Southwest, they can actually bring hotter and drier conditions.
If this year is another La Niña year, it will be the third La Niña winter in a row, which has only been recorded twice before.
