Heat wave in Pacific Northwest could soon repeat due to climate change - research

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows low water levels at Lake Oroville, which is the second largest reservoir in California and according to daily reports of the state's Department of Water Resources is near 35% capacity, near Oroville, California June 16, 2021. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci

(Reuters) -The suffocating heat wave that killed hundreds of people across the Pacific Northwest last week would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change, a study finds.

Reporting the first research attributing the event to climate change on Wednesday, scientists said climate change had made such a heat wave in the region 150 times more likely. The scientists estimated the extraordinary temperatures were a one-in-a-thousand-year event, though noted this was difficult to quantify given the unprecedented heat in early summer. But if current greenhouse gas emissions continue, an event so extreme could start occurring every five to 10 years by the 2040s, they warned.