Scientists who analysed the regional heatwave found that human-caused climate change made the extreme weather at least 150 times more likely. Referring to both the heatwave and the storms, Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik, an agricultural meteorologist at Washington State University, told NBC this week: “We were super hot and dry in the summer, and the switch flips. It definitely matches what the climate models show for the future around here – hotter, dryer summers and wetter winters.”
As the climate warms scientists expect atmospheric rivers to form in more rapid succession, grow more intense, and become longer, wetter and wider. According to Environment Canada, there have been five atmospheric rivers already this season, which is highly unusual.
The way in which the summer fires exacerbated the winter flooding is an example of a compound climate disaster.
