CRI听力:Extreme Weather Linked to Climate Change

Most of the deaths in India have been reported in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where temperatures have soared above 47 degrees.

Public announcements are urging people to drink water and avoid going outdoors during the hottest hours of the day.

Sarojini is the Medical and Health Officer for Vishakapatnam, in the state of Andhra Pradesh:

"Our doctors and paramedics have been going outside and making people aware that they should not work outside in the sun. They are also telling people that if they have to step out during the day then they should take precautions and use a cap or something to cover your head. People should try and wear cotton and loose clothing."

Hot, dry winds have also swept across New Delhi and most parts of north and central India.

Forecasters are suggesting the heat wave may start subsiding later on today.

And monsoon rains, expected to arrive in the southern state of Kerala in the first week of June, will bring some relief.

Meanwhile, Much of Texas and Oklahoma in the US are being swept by rainstorms.

And flooding has overwhelmed some towns, damaging many houses.

Meteorologists say the storms are not yet done, raising the prospect of even more flooding.

Adam Sobel is a climate expert at Columbia University.

He says that some extreme weather is influenced by the Earth's warming climate.

"Attributing extreme weather to climate change depends a lot on what kind of extreme weather we are talking about. So we are quite certain that heat-waves for example are becoming more frequent and we can already see a human fingerprint on increasing heat-waves. Other kinds of extreme weather events like floods and droughts we believe that there is a climate change influence there but there is a lot more natural variability and lot more variation from place to place about how strong the link we can make to the warming climate. And other events like tornadoes we can't make a strong association yet at all."

A recent study suggests the percentage of extremely hot days caused by man-made greenhouse gases will push past 95-percent.

The Swiss scientists who did the study calculated that 18-percent of extreme rain events are caused by global warming.

But if the world warms another 1.1 degrees Celsius - expected to happen around mid-century-about 39-percent of the downpours would be attributed to humanity's influence.

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun.