The Atlantic

Climate Change Is Causing More Sweltering Summer Days

A new study aims to answer: When do we know if bad weather can be blamed on global warming?
Source: Edward Munoz / Reuters

This past winter was an exceptionally strange one across North America. Rain deluged California, as unseasonable warmth fanned across the Midwest and Eastern seaboard. In New York, sales of salt and snow shovels plunged; in Washington, some of the famous cherry trees bloomed too early and died.

When the weather gets weird, many people now think of climate change. And nearly as many people know, too, that it’s hopeless to try to figure out if it’s to blame. For decades, journalists have repeated that weather and climate are different—weather deals in specifics

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