Karen McKinnon evaluates extreme heat events to further understand climate change | Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

Katerina Jowid
September 29, 2022
SLAGC News and Events

Publication: City News Service

UCLA Expert: Karen McKinnon: Assistant Professor, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics

Synopsis: A combination of climate change and extraordinary bad luck contributed to the deadly heat wave in the Pacific Northwest in 2021, according to a UCLA study.

UCLA News: “It was outrageous how extreme and severe that heat wave was," said McKinnon. “Climate models struggle to capture events this extreme, and most early research puts the chances of it occurring at zero. We need to continue evaluating whether these very extreme events are telling us something new about how the climate is changing, and whether they confirm or refute our latest findings.”