--- title: Extreme Hot Spells Caused By Climate Change 75% Of the Time description: Extreme hot spells are and heavy rains are increasingly caused by climate change, according to new study. canonical: https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-27T18:45:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:42:57.601Z article:section: Science og:title: Heatwaves Caused By Climate Change 75% of the Time: Study og:description: Extreme hot spells are and heavy rains are increasingly caused by climate change, according to new study. og:url: https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt088efcbe87b099e3/6987ed1135ba6f537cc0b156/468882884.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: This picture shows two men attempting to push a car out of floodwaters after a storm swept Changsha, central China's Hunan province on taken on April 7, 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heatwaves Caused By Climate Change 75% of the Time: Study twitter:description: Extreme hot spells are and heavy rains are increasingly caused by climate change, according to new study. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt088efcbe87b099e3/6987ed1135ba6f537cc0b156/468882884.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Heatwaves Caused By Climate Change 75% Of the Time, Study Finds ## Video: Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ywHiuC83.m3u8) (0:48)  _Published 2013-05-09. Climate Change_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Apr 27, 2015 6:45 PM UTC  This picture shows two men attempting to push a car out of floodwaters after a storm swept Changsha, central China's Hunan province on taken on April 7, 2015 This picture shows two men attempting to push a car out of floodwaters after a storm swept Changsha, central China's Hunan province on taken on April 7, 2015AFP/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Apr 27, 2015 6:45 PM UTC Climate change is increasingly causing extreme weather like heavy rains, heat waves and severe storms, according to a new study. Three-quarters of all hot spells occurring over land can be traced back to human activity, according to [a study published Monday](http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2617.html) in Nature Climate Change. Global warming also causes 18% of heavy precipitation, the report finds, a figure that will increase to 40% if temperatures continue to rise. “With every degree of warming it is the rarest and the most extreme events—and thereby the ones with typically the highest socio-economic impacts—for which the largest fraction is due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions,” Swiss researchers Erich Fischer and Reto Knutti wrote. The study looked at heat waves and heavy rains from 25 climate models over the period from 1901-2005 as well as projections for 2006-2100. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/"},"headline":"Heatwaves Caused By Climate Change 75% Of the Time, Study Finds","datePublished":"2015-04-27T18:45:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:42:57.601Z","description":"Heavy precipitation is another result of climate change","url":"https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/","keywords":["Environment","climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt088efcbe87b099e3/6987ed1135ba6f537cc0b156/468882884.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt088efcbe87b099e3/6987ed1135ba6f537cc0b156/468882884.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"This picture shows two men attempting to push a car out of floodwaters after a storm swept Changsha, central China's Hunan province on taken on April 7, 2015","caption":"This picture shows two men attempting to push a car out of floodwaters after a storm swept Changsha, central China's Hunan province on taken on April 7, 2015","creditText":"AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/","name":"Heatwaves Caused By Climate Change 75% Of the Time, Study Finds"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change","description":"Climate Change","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ywHiuC83/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-05-09T17:46:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ywHiuC83.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3837089/climate-change-heatwave-extreme-weather/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```