History was made in Houston last week, and certainly not in a good way: Hurricane Harvey, which slammed ashore Aug. 25 as a Category 4 storm (the next-to-highest level) is the wettest U.S. storm ever. In four days, more than 40 inches of rain swamped many areas of eastern Texas, causing catastrophic flooding. Hundreds of thousands of homes are affected and more than 30,000 Texans were displaced. Nearly 50 people died.

The way Harvey intensified quickly and brought unusually powerful downpours could be symptoms of climate change, though scientists caution that months of study are needed to gauge the full effects of global warming on the disastrous storm. "When the dust settles, the conversation needs to happen," says meteorologist Marshall Shepherd at the University of Georgia. A 2016 report from experts at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., says man-made climate change makes some extreme weather even worse. "Tropical cyclones are projected to become more intense as the climate warms," says that study, which notes that storm clouds carry more moisture because more ocean water evaporates as temperatures rise – a confirmed trend globally. In addition, warmer air can hold more water vapor (humidity). "Climate change is making even heavier rainfall possible," explains John Nielsen-Gammon, a Texas A&M University meteorologist who advises state officials.

But climate change remains a polarizing issue, and some scientists resist linking it to specific storms. For now, many scholars believe that while climate change didn’t cause Hurricane Harvey, generally warmer temperatures worsened it.

Meteorologist says: "What we need right now is an informed, reasoned, intellectual debate on climate change and extreme events." – Ryan Maue, scholar at Cato Institute policy research center in Washington, D.C.

Federal study says: "Global analyses show that the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere has in fact increased due to human-caused warming. This extra moisture is available to storm systems, resulting in heavier rainfalls." -- Climate Assessment report by U.S. agencies in 2014

Columnist writes: "When normally sober and stoic scientists start draining the barrel of awful superlatives to describe a summer day off the Gulf Coast, it's time to pay attention." – Timothy Egan, The New York Times