The record-shattering June heat that’s baked Europe this week would have been “virtually impossible” just 50 years ago, according to a new analysis, which says the human-driven climate crisis is “unequivocally to blame.”
The ongoing heat wave is the region’s “most severe ever recorded,” according to the study published Friday by World Weather Attribution, a scientific network which analyzes the role of climate change in driving extreme weather events.
Huge parts Europe have been suffocating under a stubborn heat dome parked over the continent, trapping hot air and leading to extreme and dangerous heat and humidity. Heat domes are not unusual, but the temperatures in this one have been.
Records have fallen like dominoes: France experienced its hottest day on record Wednesday, beating a record set only the day before. The UK posted its highest June temperature ever recorded Wednesday, then smashed it again Thursday. Spain endured its two hottest June days on record Monday and Tuesday. Switzerland posted its hottest recorded June temperature on Thursday. The list goes on.
To calculate the role climate change played in these extremes, WWA scientists used real-world and forecast data to analyze the three hottest days and nights of this heat wave across a huge section of Europe, comparing the likelihood of similar extremes during past major heat wave years of 1976 and 2003, when the Earth was cooler.
