TIPPING POINT - FLOODS

Scientists have long predicted climate disruption will lead to more extreme weather, such as heatwaves, droughts and floods. 

Human emissions from engine exhaust fumes, forest burning and other activities are heating the planet. As the atmosphere gets warmer it holds more moisture which brings more rain.

All the places that recently experienced flooding – Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, London, Edinburgh, Tokyo and elsewhere – might have had heavy summer rain even without the climate crisis, but the deluges were unlikely to have been as intense.

But there have always been floods and heatwaves. What is the evidence that humans are making them worse?

First, more records are being broken more often; the world’s seven hottest years in recorded history have all come since 2014. Second, scientists can now use statistical analysis and computer models to calculate how much more likely particular weather events have become as a result of the extra stress that humans have put on the climate system. 

For example, human emissions made the deadly “heat dome” in Canada and North America last month at least 150 times more likely and the prolonged heatwave in Siberia last year more than 600 times more probable - link

“The Greatest Threat to Our Planet Is the Belief That Someone Else Will Save It” - link