London: Computer simulations may soon be able to show how likely it is that extreme weather events such as the floods and heatwaves that swept Europe this week were caused by climate change, scientists say.
"To say you can't blame one event on global warming isn't true," said Oxford University climate scientist Myles Allen.
"We can understand in a lot of detail what's contributing towards the risk of these events."
In its second heatwave this summer temperatures in Greece soared to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) this week, following an earlier heatwave in June which set a new 110-year record of 46C.
Record temperatures this month have caused up to 500 deaths in Hungary, put 19,000 Romanians in hospital and triggered forest fires across Bulgaria.
And Britain saw this week its worst floods in 60 years, which have left about 350,000 people without running water. But is it global warming?
Most scientists agree that, if unchecked, manmade climate change caused by emitting greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide will raise temperatures this century, and make heatwaves and heavy rainfall and storms more common.
It's quite another matter to link one event to global warming, given all the chaotic factors that contribute to the weather. But some scientists think they can do just that.
