Claim Verification: "Extreme weather events (hurricanes, wildfires, floods) have become dramatically more frequent and intense solely because of climate change." — Disproved

Automated fact-verification of the claim: "Extreme weather events (hurricanes, wildfires, floods) have become dramatically more frequent and intense solely because of climate change." Verdict: DISPROVED Key Findings 4 of 4 sources verified (all full-quote matches): NOAA, USGS, PNAS Nexus, and IPCC all explicitly document non-climate drivers of extreme weather — directly falsifying the "solely" qualifier. SC4 (sole causation) is DISPROVED: Hurricane frequency trends are partly driven by aerosol forcing changes (NOAA GFDL, B1); flood frequency independently increases with urbanization (USGS, B2); wildfire risk is "the confluence of climate change and development" (PNAS Nexus, B3); IPCC AR6 itself lists greenhouse gases, aerosol emissions, and land-use changes as separate human influences (IPCC, B4). SC1 (frequency increase) is only partially true: NOAA GFDL states that global tropical cyclone frequency timeseries "do not show evidence for significant rising trends." Heat extremes, heavy precipitation, and wildfire area have increased — but global hurricane counts have not clearly risen. No mainstream scientific body uses the word "solely" when attributing extreme weather to climate change — all authoritative sources name multiple factors. Files proof.py — Re-runnable Python verification script proof.md — Structured proof report proof_audit.md — Full verification audit trail proof_narrative.md — Plain-language summary proof.json — Machine-readable structured data Generated by Proof Engine v1.0.0.