An atmospheric river dumped six inches of rain in two days on the Pacific Northwest, setting off flood warnings across Washington and Oregon as well as concerns over avalanches and landslides. Increasing extreme precipitation events are a clear signal of climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels. The region has been deluged by as much as 50 inches of rain since last November, causing catastrophic flooding in the U.S. PNW and British Columbia in November, which Canadian researchers determined were made substantially more likely by climate change. Large swaths of Australia are also submerged, inundated by catastrophic floods that have killed at least 10 almost a year after extreme rainfall forced 18,000 people in the same region to evacuate their homes. (Washington Post $; Australia: Washington Post $, Buzzfeed, Axios, AP, Democracy Now; Climate signals background: Flooding, Extreme precipitation increase)