The sweltering heat of summer 2012 will become more likely due to high levels of carbon dioxide found in Earth's atmosphere, according to a new study.
Researchers from Stanford University say extreme weather patterns are four times more likely to occur in north-central and northeastern United States than it is during the pre-industrial era.
The findings were published on Sept. 5 in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
"Going forward, if we want to understand and manage climate risks, it's more practically relevant to understand the likelihood of the hazard than to ask whether any particular disaster was caused by global warming," said Noah Diffenbaugh, a Stanford associate professor of environmental Earth system science.
According to a news release, United States suffered 11 "extreme weather events" in 2012. The cost of the damages from the natural occurrences was estimated to be $1 billlion.
"It's clear that our greenhouse gas emissions have increased the likelihood of some kinds of extremes, and it's clear that we're not optimally adapted to that new climate," Diffenbaugh said.
July 2012 was reportedly the hottest month of in the history of U.S. weather record keeping, according to the news release. The extreme heat caused U.S. Midwest to suffer a drought, which in turn dried up the crops.
Scientists looked at the "physical processes" needed to create the extreme weather patterns. The researchers also focused on the rarity those conditions occurring throughout history.
"Using climate models, they quantified how the risk of such damaging weather has changed in the current climate of high greenhouse gas concentrations, as opposed to an era of significantly lower concentrations and no global warming," the University said. "Their findings don't pinpoint global warming as the cause of particular extreme weather events, but they do reveal the increasing risk of such events as the world warms."
Diffenbaugh believes lowering the U.S. carbon dioxide emissions will help to lower the chances of the extreme weather occurring.
"Knowing how much our emissions have changed the likelihood of this kind of severe heat event can help us to minimize the impacts of the next heat wave, and to determine the value of avoiding further changes in climate," Diffenbaugh said.
Check out this article for highlights of the researcher's findings.
