With a few exceptions extreme weather event attribution is recognised as necessarily oriented towards tracing the history of present (or past) extreme events. However, it must be noted that the usefulness of a true causal claim linking climate change to its specific, local impacts may not be exhausted by its being an answer to a pre-specified scientific question about event attribution. This is because there is an important difference between problem-solving and solution-use. And solution-use can neither be controlled by the problem-solving science nor by its taskmasters. The users can have other questions than the problem-solvers. This commentary defends detection and attribution science’s importance for individuals’ adaptation decisions.