My latest DeSmogBlog piece is about why, just as we had to be careful about the tornado-climate linkage--which was overplayed--so we can now talk the hell out of the global warming-heat wave connection, which is extremely strong. It starts like this:
Earlier this year, I grew uncomfortable with attempts to link the massive tornado destruction that we saw in the U.S. to climate change. As I explained then—based on an interview with Harold Brooks, one of our top experts on tornadoes and climate—the evidence just doesn’t support this assertion. We can’t show that tornadoes have gone up, or gotten worse. Nor can we show that the theory or models predict that they should in a warming world. However, we’ve just experienced a staggering U.S. heat wave (visual here), and that makes it seriously time to talk about the link to climate change, and not shut up any time soon....
You can read the full piece here.