Are Pakistan floods caused by global warming? Here's what scientists say

The death toll in the floods in Pakistan crossed 1,100 on Tuesday and over 33 million - one in every seven Pakistanis - were affected.

Pakistan is grappling with its worst natural disaster in over a decade. More than two million acres of cultivated crops were wiped out since June 14, and 3,457 kilometres of roads destroyed.

Over the last 30 years, Pakistan received 134mm of rain on an average. This year it received 388.7mm of rain - 190.07% more than the average. It's the highest in three decades.


Is this fatal flooding the fallout of global warming? Scientists interviewed in an AP report suggested it might be, but added it was too early to formally assign blame.

That's because all the typical ingredients of climate change were visible: soaring temperatures, hotter air holding more moisture, extreme weather, melting glaciers etc.

“Extreme weather patterns are turning more frequent in the region and Pakistan is not an exception,” the report quoted Abid Qaiyum Suleri, a member of Pakistan's Climate Change Council, as saying.

Lahore-based climate scientist Moshin Hafeez said Pakistan “is considered the eighth most vulnerable country to climate change.”

Climate scientists based in the US and India pointed out that the unprecedented downpour in Pakistan - eight weeks of incessant rains - was very likely juiced by climate change.

The heat too has been relentless, with that country consistently seeing temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius in recent times. In some places it went well over 50 degrees.

This is how it connects: Warmer air holds more moisture, about 7% more per degree Celsius, and that eventually falls as torrential rain.

Scientists are now finishing intricate calculations to formally determine whether, and how much, climate change is a factor in the fatal floods. That study is expected to be out in a few weeks, reports said.