Scientists’ long-range forecast: More, much more of the same; a century of heat, fires, floods

Long hot summer of fire and floods fit predictions

NEW YORK — From smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Pakistan, the planet seems to be having a midsummer climate breakdown.

Scientists say the floods, fires and feverish heat aren’t just a portent of things to come — they’re a sign of troubling climate change already under way.

The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization says the weather-related cataclysms of July and August fit patterns predicted by climate scientists. But those scientists shy from tying individual disasters directly to global warming.

Climatologists now see an urgent need for better ways to forecast extreme events like Russia’s heat wave and wildfires and the record deluge devastating Pakistan. They’ll discuss such tools in meetings in the coming weeks in Paris, Britain and Colorado.

The meetings are being sponsored by the United Nations and the U.S. and British governments.