How do scientists determine whether climate change is driving extreme weather events like the floods, heat waves and droughts that we’re experiencing today? To find out about the science of attribution, Mongabay’s Kristine Sabillo recently interviewed environmental statistician Clair Barnes of World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers that has been analyzing the role of climate change on today’s extreme weather. The idea behind WWA, Barnes said, “was to look at high-impact weather events and to use the latest science to say something while the conversation is still going on.” WWA works with partners like the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre that monitor various emergency and disaster alerts channels and issues what it calls a “trigger” when a disaster has major humanitarian consequences. This can be a heat wave setting temperature records in a region, or a flood killing or displacing a certain number or proportion of the population. Once WWA researchers decided on an event to study further, they work with local experts who understand the meteorological and geographical processes behind that event. A rapid analysis can take from a few days to up to a few weeks to finish. Barnes said they use observational weather data and statistical and climate models to understand the role of climate change in the event. Consider flooding in a river basin due to heavy rains over three days: The researchers use multiple weather data sets to examine how the maximum three-day rainfall period for that season has changed in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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