When The Weather Is Extreme, Is Climate Change To Blame?

A woman uses a portable fan to cool herself in Tokyo on Tuesday as Japan suffers from a heat wave. Scientists say extreme weather events will likely happen more often as the planet gets warmer.

Martin Bureau / AFP/Getty Images

Dramatic weather events happened this past week in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. There were wildfires in Greece, Scandinavia, and the Western U.S. Flooding followed record rainfalls in the Northeast. And dangerous heat waves settled over the Southwest, Japan, and the U.K.

If it continues like this, 2018 could end up being one of the hottest years on record.

When the news is full of stories on extreme weather, it’s hard not to wonder: Is this what climate change looks like?