In June of 2021, the U.S. PNW saw record breaking temperatures. Media immediately proclaimed this as caused by climate change. But according to an atmospheric scientist only a tiny fraction could be attributed to climate change.

Individual weather events are generally not climate. Climate is the summary of weather over a long period of time and over a geographical area.

“Attribution” studies try to assign a % of an event to climate change but are likely as reliable as disease models were during Covid. In the fall of 2022, the CDC said disease models had “low reliability” and discontinued publishing their ensemble disease model projections.

We do not have the ability to judge the cause of most individual weather events as caused by climate change yet news reporters love to blame individual weather events on climate change:

Climate experts say the floods that sent rivers of mud tearing through towns in Italy’s northeast this week are the result of extreme weather phenomena that are becoming increasingly frequent around the world. That includes prolonged periods of drought punctuated by intense periods of rain that can’t be absorbed by the parched ground.

Source: Italy’s deadly floods just latest example of climate change’s all-or-nothing weather extremes | AP News

Literally, every weather event has become a supposed example of climate change. Except they are generally not. And if they are, the attribution to human-induced climate change is very small – with the rest of the climate event being of natural orgins.

Here in the western U.S., several years of drought were caused by climate change. Then record breaking snowpacks and 200% of normal precipitation were caused by climate change. Above normal wildland fires in recent years were caused by climate change. And then below normal wildland fires that followed were caused by climate change.

The media exaggerates everything, and is often reporting speculation as news.

The AP reporter – Seth Borenstein – has a long record of doom and gloom perspectives on climate. Everything is terrible and we are all going to die. The above linked report is typical for him as peddling fear, without solutions, is his trade.

That headline is absurd with numerous “loaded” words: “deadly floods”, “latest example”, “all-or-nothing climate extremes”. The language of a propagandist causes many of us tune out. Rather than report the science, Borenstein conjures up wacky headlines and exaggerates the reality. This leads to many no longer believing climate science, and not believing the AP.