More Research Links Australia’s Extreme Heat to Climate Change

During the historic heatwave of 2013, scorching wildfires blazed across Australia, their smoke and toxic fumes forcing families from their homes.  In the small fishing village of Dunalley, Tasmania, the Holmes family took shelter in the only place that was safe — the ocean.  As they clung to a wooden dock, the fire engulfed and destroyed their village.

The severity of that wildfire was partially due to a record-breaking heatwave in Australia, an event which later came to be called the “angry summer.”  On Thursday, a report (pdf) released by the independent Climate Council of Australia concluded that that heat wave would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.

Read more at More Research Links Australia’s Extreme Heat to Climate Change