September 21, 2022

Italian review of extreme weather says no evidence of "climate crisis" in current data

Scientists say "mitigation and adaptation strategies" still necessary.

A quartet of Italian scientists are claiming that a review of current extreme weather data suggest the world is not experiencing a "climate crisis," contra the claims of most scientists and leaders around the planet. 

Activists and experts have long claimed that climate change will bring about an increasingly unstable atmosphere, one that is prone to ever-more-extreme weather events including more severe storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts, among other phenomena. 

In a paper titled "A critical assessment of extreme events trends in times of global warming" published earlier this year at the European Physical Journal Plus, four Italian researchers claim that "on the basis of observational data, the climate crisis that, according to many sources, we are experiencing today, is not evident yet."

The researchers in the paper argue that "global trends in heatwave intensity are not significant," while "daily precipitation intensity and extreme precipitation frequency are stationary in the main part of the weather stations."

"Trend analysis of the time series of tropical cyclones show a substantial temporal invariance and the same is true for tornadoes in the USA," they continue, while noting that "the impact of warming on surface wind speed remains unclear."

When assessing "natural disasters, floods, droughts, ecosystem productivity and yields of the four main crops (maize, rice, soybean and wheat)," the researchers said they found "none of these response indicators show a clear positive trend of extreme events."

The writers stress that it is "nevertheless extremely important to define mitigation and adaptation strategies that take into account current trends."

"[W]e should work to minimize our impact on the planet and to minimize air and water pollution," they argue.

Article