2010's 'weird' and deadly weather: Global warming taking effect?

Floods in Pakistan, fires in Russia, a heat wave in the U.S. Is this what it feels like when climate change kicks into overdrive?

Russia's fires and Pakistan's floods are examples of how higher temperatures make "dangerous weather events" far "more destructive."
(Image credit: Corbis)

This summer's extreme weather could be a sign that potentially deadly climate change is already underway, according to scientists quoted by The New York Times. Experts are hesitant to blame global warming for individual events, such as the recent heat wave in the U.S., or fires in Russia, or Pakistan's devastating floods. But they say these disasters are examples of extremes — what Times columnist Thomas Friedman calls "global weirding" — that may already be occurring more frequently as the world grows hotter. Has this summer's heat made global warming undeniable? (Watch a Sky News report about the weird weather)

Consider this summer's weather a warning: Climate change skeptics mocked people concerned about global warming during the winter's "Snowmageddon" storms, say the editors of The Washington Post, but they're not laughing any more. The catastrophes in Russia and Pakistan, a fifth of which is now under water, may not have been triggered by global warming, but they are examples of how higher temperatures make all kids of "dangerous weather events" far "more destructive." This is a preview of the price we'll pay if we continue "to pump carbon into Earth's atmosphere."

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