The connection between climate change and heat waves is particularly well-understood and documented because rising temperatures are relatively simple to measure and predict.
Other types of weather are more complex. Climate change affects hurricanes, for instance, in many ways (from changing the temperature of the air and the water to potentially affecting wind patterns and ocean currents), so scientists tend to focus on individual effects of a storm, such as coastal flooding and sea level rise, or inland flooding from abnormally heavy rain.
Understanding how climate change will affect extreme weather in the future, and how common these types of disasters will become as the Earth continues to heat up, is crucial for elected officials and business leaders — such research can inform decision-makers and allow them to prioritize which issues to act on first.
