Human-caused climate change broke heat records in Canada over the summer
It’s getting hotter and hotter every summer in Canada, and a lot of it has to do with human-caused climate change.
Over the summer, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) scientists analyzed the “devastating” heat waves that impacted people across the country.
They found that climate change caused by humans made almost all of Canada’s worst heat waves hotter, and more likely.
The environmental agency’s Rapid Extreme Weather Event Attribution system uses climate models to compare today’s with a pre-industrial one.
The line graph below compares today’s climate with the past. The red curve has shifted to the right, which shows that Canada has more chances of extreme heat.
Environment and Climate Change Canada
“This helps Canadians understand how human emissions and activities are affecting our lives and weather today, as the changes unfold,” reads a report released by the ECCC on Tuesday.
From June to September 2024, ECCC 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,” explained ECCC.
“Spring and summer are becoming hotter, and this means earlier snowmelt, dangerous heat waves, and conditions that are ripe for wildfires.”
The agency says the direct and indirect costs of extreme weather are substantial, ranging from a loss of productivity to a loss of life.
A recent Canadian study found that these “once in 100 years” climate-related weather events are becoming more frequent, severe, and costly.
“2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 all rank in the top 10 years based on insurance claims, surpassed only by the 2016 Fort McMurray fires, the 2013 flooding in Calgary and Toronto, and the 1998 Quebec ice storm,” it reads.
ECCC says better understanding the causes and effects of extreme weather like heat waves, extreme cold and precipitation can help the government better plan for, respond to and rebuild from weather emergencies.
With that in mind, the agency is also using its Rapid Extreme Weather Event Attribution system to analyze the connection between human-caused climate change and the odds of extreme cold temperature events.
It’s also working to develop a system to analyze extreme precipitation, which is expected to come online in 2025.