Climate change sets and breaks heat records across Canada this summer
Oct. 29, 2024
Global Korean Post
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Over the summer, Environment and Climate Change Canada scientists analyzed the devastating heat waves that impacted Canadians. They found that human-caused climate change made almost all of Canada’s worst heat waves hotter and more likely.
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Rapid Extreme Weather Event Attribution system uses climate models to compare today’s climate with a pre-industrial one. This helps Canadians understand how human emissions and activities are affecting our lives and weather today, as the changes unfold.
From June to September 2024, Environment and Climate Change Canada climate scientists analyzed 37 of the hottest heat waves in 17 regions across Canada. They determined that of these heat waves, human-caused climate change made:
- Five of them more likely to occur (at least one to two times more likely)
- Twenty-eight of them much more likely to occur(at least two to 10 times more likely)
- Four of them far more likely to occur(at least 10 times more likely)
As the global climate continues to warm because of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, Canada is warming at roughly double the global average rate. Spring and summer are becoming hotter, and this means earlier snowmelt, dangerous heat waves, and conditions that are ripe for wildfires.
Starting this winter, Environment and Climate Change Canada will be able to use its Rapid Extreme Weather Event Attribution system to analyze the connection between human-caused climate change and the odds of extreme cold temperature events. Work is also underway to develop the system to analyze extreme precipitation. This capability is expected to come online in 2025.