Why It’s So Hard to Prove Climate Change Causes Specific Weather Events

Douglas McIntyre, Editor-in-Chief at Climate Crisis 24/7, discusses the complexity of linking individual weather events to climate change. Reporting from New York City, McIntyre highlights that even in the face of extreme weather—like four consecutive days of record-breaking heat in Houston—experts often can’t definitively connect the event to climate change. As he explains, while patterns and theories exist, scientific certainty is sometimes out of reach. This uncertainty complicates both public understanding and policy responses to climate-related issues.