Stormy Science

How much of the wild weather we have been experiencing in the Bay Area and watching on TV is related to climate change? The recent IPCC report raised scientists confidence that burning fossil fuels is behind much of the climate disruption humans have experienced and measured. But connecting individual weather events to our tailpipes and smokestacks is still controversial among scientists.

 

Recent episodes of severe weather - the polar vortex, Superstorm Sandy, the California drought, and epic floods - is consistent with established scientific understanding of how a disturbed climate behaves. What can we expect in the future? 

 

Speaker: Noah Diffenbaugh, Associate Professor, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University