00:38 Extreme Weather Tops List of Global Threats Released this Wednesday, the 2018 Global Risks Report identified extreme weather events as the top risk to human survival in the next 10 years.

At a Glance Meteorologists and climatologists have made it clear that it is difficult to connect singular weather events to climate change.

However, trends and patterns clearly point to a correlation between global warming and extreme weather.

From deadly wildfires in Greece to heat waves in Japan, Europe and in the western U.S. to flooding and mudslides in the mid-Atlantic and Laos, the extreme weather this week has been trying and heartbreaking for many.

The question comes to mind: Are these extremes a result of climate change?

Meteorologists and climatologists have made it clear that it is difficult to attribute individual extreme weather events to climate change, although that is rapidly changing.

A report published last year by the National Academies noted that "in the past, a typical climate scientist’s response to questions about climate change’s role in any given extreme weather event was, 'We cannot attribute any single event to climate change.'

"The science has advanced to the point that this is no longer true as an unqualified blanket statement," the report said. "In many cases, it is now often possible to make and defend quantitative statements about the extent to which human-induced climate change ... has influenced either the magnitude or the probability of occurrence of specific types of events or event classes."

Heidi Cullen, chief scientist for Climate Central and head of the World Weather Attribution program, compared the report's significance to another scientific breakthrough in the 1960s that changed the world.

"Like the surgeon general’s 1964 report connecting smoking to lung cancer, the report from the National Academies connects global warming to the increased risk and severity of certain classes of extreme weather, including some heat waves, floods and drought ," she said.

While connecting climate change to particular events remains a challenge and cannot be made until after the event, trends and patterns clearly point to a correlation between global warming and extreme weather.

Heat Waves

The increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves are among the most obvious and well-documented effects of climate change, meteorologist Jeff Masters of Weather Underground told weather.com.

"The bottom line is that global warming has made heat waves like those experienced this July much more likely to occur," Masters said.

A study released in August by the European Commission suggested parts of the world may soon experience super heat waves if global warming continues unchecked, with temperatures reaching more than 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Elena Manaenkova of the World Meteorological Organization said Thursday in a tweet that 2018 will likely be one of the hottest years on record . That is proving true in numerous locations in the U.S. and abroad.

Much Europe has baked for weeks during a lengthy heat wave, the hottest location in the United States, Death Valley, recorded its hottest daytime temperature of 127 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday. Throughout the Southwest, temperatures have soared into the triple digits for days on end.

On Monday, Japan set its all-time heat record of 106 degrees Fahrenheit in Kumagaya. All-time heat records were also marked in numerous stations in Japan and South Korea earlier this week.

Three other nations have joined Japan in marking all-time heat records this year: Algeria (124.3 degrees F), Palau (95 degrees F) and Taiwan (104.5 degrees F).

Flooding Rainfall

Rising temperatures triggered by human-caused climate change have created more intense storms with the capacity to dump incredible amounts of rain.

This week, "historic flooding " in the mid-Atlantic resulted in numerous evacuations and water rescues. Some areas received more than a foot of rain.

Last year, Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 60 inches of rain on parts of Texas, leaving behind devastation and billions in damage.

"Did climate change make this event more likely than in the past? Yes," Karin van der Wiel of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute told the Associated Press.

Scientists say extreme rainfall events will become more common in the coming years. This is because as temperatures rise, more evaporation occurs at oceans, lakes, rivers, and even from plants. For every 1 degree Fahrenheit of warming, the saturation level of the atmosphere increases by about 4 percent. That leads to heavier rainfall.

“In a warming climate we expect weather systems to move more slowly,” aid weather.com senior meteorologist Jon Erdman. “And because the climate is warmer, we expect the atmosphere to be able to hold more water vapor. So, as a result, we expect weather systems to be able to produce a bit more rainfall and for there to be more heavy rain events than there would be if the climate was not warming.”

(MORE: U.S. of Climate Change: How Often Do You Get 12 Inches of Rain? )

Cities like Louisville, Kentucky, have already experienced significant and increasing rainfall in recent years.

According to Louisville's 145-year rainfall record, half of the city's 10 wettest years have occurred this century. Eight of the 10 have occurred since the 1990s. None of the top ten driest years have occurred since 1987.

The 2017 Climate Science Special Report indicated heavy precipitation events are increasing in all regions of the U.S., but this trend is occurring in cities and regions across the globe. In some regions like Bangladesh, where heavy monsoonal rainfall meets rising sea levels, the future appears dismal.

Wildfires

Wildfires are increasing as the global temperatures rise.

With more extreme droughts and super heat waves expected, increases in deadly and destructive wildfires will follow, scientists say.

The heat sucks moistures from the soil, creating ripe conditions for wildfires to break out, such as the fires that exploded this week in Greece , killing at least 82.

A study by researchers at Oregon State University note that large wildfire activity increased "suddenly and markedly" beginning in the mid-1980s, with higher large-wildfire frequency, longer wildfire durations and longer wildfire seasons.

"Wildfire frequency was nearly four times the average of 1970 to 1986, and the total area burned by these fires was more than six and a half times its previous level," the study said.

(MORE: Why Extreme Deadly Hurricanes, Heat Waves and Wildfires Are Here to Stay )

Ironically, wildfires contribute to global warming as carbon from the fires is released into the atmosphere.

"If wildfire trends continue, at least initially, this biomass burning will result in carbon release, suggesting that the forests of the western United States may become a source of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide," the study says.

Scientists with the National Academies noted in their report that while many studies have "linked an increase in wildfires to climate change, the risk of any individual fire depends on past forest management, natural climate variability, human activities in the forest, and possibly other factors, in addition to any exacerbation by human-caused climate change."