Harvey, Florence, and the climate change connection

With floodwaters continuing to rise nearly two weeks after hurricane Florence thrashed North and South Carolina, many are wondering how much of the deluge can be attributed to climate change.

That’s a frequent question, and one without an easy answer. Unlike some other extreme weather events, like heat waves or unusually heavy rainfall, hurricanes have resisted efforts to pin blame solidly on global warming.

They’re relatively rare, for one thing, and they’re caused by complex meteorological conditions. And some skeptics note that there hasn’t been a consistent detectable long-term trend.

But as extreme-event attribution matures, climate scientists are increasingly willing to connect the dots between certain aspects of hurricanes and climate change. Researchers hope that a sharper understanding