As I understand it, global warming is defined by a measured increase in average temperatures over time. According to my memory and perceptions, there seems to be a greater number of extreme weather events being reported since the climate change debate became mainstream somewhere in the 1990's.

I'm talking about record breaking temperature extremes, droughts, floods, hurricanes, bushfires and even earthquakes. I'm not an expert on the climate change debate, so I'm wondering to what extent these events are considered by the majority of the scientific community, to be a result of actual climate change or an over reporting of those events, due to the increased public interest in the subject.

I have been under the impression that noticable anthropogenic climate change would take place over a much longer time period than a human life. Much too gradually to be actually noticed without using sensitive equipment and recording data over a significant time frame, in order to differentiate from natural fluctuations. Unless of course there are specific periods in which those shifts reach tipping points which are within a human lifetime to observe and that we just happen to be experiencing one at this point in time.

No more than 20 years ago, I recall there being an awareness of the possibility of human influenced climate change, with the depletion of the ozone layer being a popular topic of discussion. But I had a clear impression that if humans were affecting the climate, that it would take a significant period of time and manifest in subtle ways, like species extinction and crop failure, rather than dramatic global weather events.