"Did Global Warming Intensify the Derecho in Washington, D.C.?"

"The June 29 derecho, which caused widespread damage in Washington, D.C. blossomed to full fury in a record hot environment. Could the heat added to the atmosphere from manmade greenhouse gases have provided extra fuel to this explosive storm?

The amount of energy available to this storm was extreme and, wundergound weather historian Chris Burt called the number of all-time heat records set around the time 'especially extraordinary.'

But as I wrote the day after the storm, connecting global warming to the derecho is a complicated and controversial question."

Jason Samenow reports for the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog July 5, 2012.

SEE ALSO:

"US Science Official Says More Extreme Events Convincing Many Americans Climate Change Is Real" (Associated Press/Rod McGuirk)

"STUDY: Media Avoid Climate Context In Wildfire Coverage" (Media Matters/Shauna Theel)

Comment: "Extreme Weather Events Forecast Storm Over Climate Change Denial" (Guardian/Amy Goodman)

"This Summer Is 'What Global Warming Looks Like'" (AP/Seth Borenstein)

"What Global Warming Looks Like (?)" (Climate etc./Judith Curry)

"Kevin Trenberth on US Wildfires, Drought, and Global Warming" (Climate Science Watch/Rick Piltz)

"Climate Change Buoying Wildfires Across Country" (NPR)

"The Kevin Trenberth / Seth Borenstein Aided Fact Free Folly on the USA Heat Wave" (Watts Up With That/Anthony Watts)

"Media Connecting The Dots On U.S. Storms, Heat And Wildfires: 'This Is What Global Warming Looks Like'" (Climate Progress/Stephen Lacey)

"Extreme Weather, Climate & Preparedness In the American Mind" (Yale Project on Climate Change Communication)

"Heat Wave, Fires Have Climate Change Activists on Offensive" (The Hill/E2 Wire/Ben Geman)

"Climate Skeptics Still Not Worried" (Salon/Alyssa Battistoni)