"The deadly tornadoes that pummeled six states on Friday, killing more than 80 people and leaving dozens missing, came at the end of a year of compounding extreme weather events, from heat waves and hurricanes to flooding and wildfires.

Scientists have been able to draw links between a warming planet and hurricanes, heat waves and droughts, attributing the likelihood that climate change played a role in individual isolated events. The same can’t be said for tornadoes yet.

“This is the hardest phenomenon to connect to climate change,” said Michael Tippett, an associate professor of applied physics and mathematics at Columbia University who studies extreme weather and climate.

Even as scientists are discovering trends around tornadoes and their behavior, it remains unclear the role that climate change plays. “For a lot of our questions about climate change and tornadoes, the answer is we don’t know,” said Harold Brooks, a senior research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory. “We don’t see evidence for changes in average annual occurrence or intensity over the last 40 to 60 years.”"

Winston Choi-Schagrin reports for the New York Times December 14, 2021. [2]
   

SEE ALSO:

"Are Tornadoes Becoming More Common?" (BBC News) [3]

"Global Warming Can Set The Stage for Deadly Tornadoes" (Inside Climate News) [4]