Return to Climate Question & Answers
This problem highlights the nature of attribution. No weather event is completely caused by climate change, but likewise, no weather event can be completely disassociated from the overarching climate. Some events, such as more intense rainfall and warmer winter nights, have strong links to climate change. For some others, such as strong tornadoes, there may be little or no evidence of a connection to climate change thus far. In still other cases, as with hurricanes, there is legitimate debate about the extent of the links to climate change, and research is ongoing.
It’s also important to distinguish between different types of weather records. Records are set in many locations every day, but some are more important or more distinctive than others (e.g., record highs for a given date and place are less significant than all-time record highs for the same place). When using records as a pointer toward longer-term climate change, it’s vital to look at the magnitude and significance of a given record.
More Information: National Climatic Data Center. “U.S. Records“