From a deadly snowstorm in Nepal to a heat wave in Argentina that crashed power supplies, at least 14 extreme weather events last year bore the fingerprints of human-induced climate change, an international team of scientists reported Thursday.

Researchers examined 28 weather extremes on all seven continents to see if they were influenced by climate change or were just normal weather. Their conclusion: Half of them showed some role of climate change.

We hope that this will help people see how climate change is affecting their day-to-day lives.

“We hope that this will help people see how climate change is affecting their day-to-day lives,” says lead editor Stephanie C. Herring of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

This detective work hasn’t been possible until recently because science wasn’t up to the task, leaving a gap in society’s ability to adapt to climate change linked to greenhouse gases, which come from burning of fossil fuels and other human activities.

Although debate continues over accuracy and details, scientists now say their improved modeling tools in recent years have made it easier to tease out climate change effects from the seeming chaos of the weather.