PCC Summer Institute

An annual event where faculty, scientists, graduate students, and invited speakers focus on how climate and our physical and human world interact. Each year a new topic, showcasing emerging knowledge and ways in which disciplines intersect, is examined. Always an opportunity for team building and for full discussion of the alternative ways that research can be brought to focus on the pressing questions of today.

2026 PCC Summer Institute

Extreme Events and their Attribution to Climate Change

Organized by Aaron Donohoe (UW APL/ATMOS) and Lauren Buckley (UW Biology) for the UW climate change community

Friday Harbor Laboratories Wednesday September 16th to Friday September 18th.

SCHEDULE

See FHL Map for locations

Sessions 1-6 in FHL Commons

Meals in the Dining Hall:  

  • 7:45 – 8:15 AM Breakfast Served
  • 12:00 – 12:30 PM Lunch Served
  • 6:00 – 6:30 PM Dinner Served

Day 1 (Sept 16)

Meet carpools near UW Campus (more information sent to registrants by carpool drivers)

Noon Ferry departs Anacortes for FHL (arrives at Friday Harbor at 1:05 PM; reservations strongly advised, arrive 45 min before ferry scheduled to depart)

1:30 – 3:00 PM Check-in/Housing Assignments (FHL Dining Hall)

2:30 PM Row boat training (Dock)  (2nd rowboat training will be 1pm on Thursday Sept 17) *required before you can use the rowboats*

4:00 – 6:00 PM Poster Session and Opening Reception (Dining Hall and patio)

Session 1 (7:00-9:00pm) “Introduction to extremes and their attribution” Moderator: Aaron Donohoe (UW APL/ATMOS)

7:00-7:30pm PCC Welcome and Introductions

7:30-8:05pm Deepti Singh (WSU) Advances in extreme event attribution science and its applications

8:05-8:40pm Sean Michaletz (UBC) The 2021 heat dome and the kinetics of heat injury

8:40-9:00pm Discussion

Day 2 (Sept 17)

Session 2 (8:30am-10:15am) “Terrestrial heat waves: climate science, impacts, and attribution” Moderator: Caleb Fried (UW ATMOS)

Introduction to Friday Harbor Labs
8:30 Welcome from Megan Dethier, UW FHL Director

8:30-9:00am Rachel White (UBC)  Dynamics of Terrestrial Heatwaves

9:00-9:30am Ed Blanchard (UW ATMOS) Climate change and heat waves – a storyline approach

9:30-9:40am Lauren Buckley (UW BIO)  Ecological impacts of terrestrial heat waves

9:40-10:10am Phillip Bruner (UW Foster) Pricing climate risks to financial markets 

Coffee Break, Group Photo

Session 3 (10:45am-noon) “Marine heat waves: climate science, impacts, and attribution” Moderator: Cassia Cai (UW Ocean)

10:45-11:15am Luanne Thompson (UW Ocean) Defining marine heat waves

11:15-11:45am Andrea Durant (UW BIO) Hot, salty, and hypoxic: do the vagaries of the supralittoral zone confer greater phenotypic plasticity of marine flies to buffer from extreme heat?

11:45-noon Discussion

1:00-1:30pm Second and final Rowboat Training. Meet at dock.

Afternoon free to explore the island in small groups

Session 4 (7pm-9pm) “Climate liability and other human dimensions of extremes” Moderator; Hannah McKinley (UW Evans School)

7:00-7:30pm Justin Mankin (Dartmouth) The scientific case for climate liability.

7:30-8:00pm Ann Bostrom (UW Evans) Lay attribution: a blame game or causal cognition? 

8:00-8:30pm Gerard Roe (UW ESS) The attribution of the 2026 Nepal floods to climate change.

8:30-9:00pm Discussion

Day 3 (Sept 18)

Session 5 (8:30am-10:00am) “Precipitation extremes: climate science, impacts, and attribution” Moderator: Taylor Hatcher (UW Biology)

8:30-9:00am Karin Bumbaco (WA State Climate Office) The role of attribution in science communication and decision support for practitioners, government agencies, and the public

9:00-9:30am Heili Lowman (UW SAFS) Aquatic ecosystem responses to and memory of disturbance

9:30-10:00am Marissa Childs (UW EHOS) Impacts of extremes on human health

10:00-10:15am Discussion 

Coffee Break

Session 6 (10:45am-noon) “Drought: climate science, impacts, and attribution” Moderator: Lauren Buckley (UW Biology) 

10:45-11:15am Abby Swann (UW ATMOS/Biology) Vegetation and ecosystem responses to extremes

11:15-11:45am Panel discussion on rapid attribution (Justin Mankin, Rachel White, and Deepti Singh)

11:45am-noon Discussion/PCC Business Wrap up

1:55 PM Carpools catch the ferry from Friday Harbor to Anacortes. Please plan on a quick lunch in the dining hall before heading to the terminal. Ferry reservations are strongly encouraged.

Registrants must complete the logistics form by Wednesday August 26th to secure their space at the Summer Institute. 

email uwpcc@uw.edu if you need the link to the logistics form –it was emailed to all on July 15 when registration closed.

 

Three Paper Discussions

We strongly encourage grad students and postdocs to attend.

  • Discussion #1 (2-3:30pm Thursday Aug 27 in OCN 425), led by Aaron Donohoe and Lauren Buckley
    • Read: Three sections of the NAS report
      • Extreme event attribution: Ch4 P83-97
      • Select one section from “CURRENT CAPABILITIES” (P97-114) and
      • Select one section from “CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES” (P115-133)
  • Discussion #2 PNW 2021 heat wave and its implications (2-3:30pm Thursday Sept 3 in OCN 425)
    • Please read this PNW 2021 heat wave paper led by summer institute speaker Rachel White.
      • White, R.H., Anderson, S., Booth, J.F. et al. The unprecedented Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021. Nat Commun 14, 727 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36289-3
    • Optional follow up article on PNW heatwave ecological impacts which includes summer institute speaker Sean Michaletz as an author.
      • Baum, J.K., Slein, M.A., Garen, J.C. et al. Widespread ecological responses and cascading effects of the 2021 western North American heatwave. Nat Ecol Evol 10, 864–879 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-02987-6
  • Discussion #3 Extreme event impact attribution and population health impacts (2-3:30pm Thursday Sept 10 in OCN 425)
    • Please read this review of the population health impacts of extremes led by UW professor Kristie Ebi, who will join us for the discussion
    • Alternative: Attribution opportunities and challenges NAS report Ch6 P151-174
  • Themes:
    • Introduction to extremes and their attribution
    • Heatwaves (marine and terrestrial): climate dynamics, impacts, and attribution
    • Legal and economic implications of extremes and their attribution
    • Precipitation extremes and drought: climate dynamics, impacts, and attribution

(last update September 12, 2026)

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