Extreme heat was felt across much of Europe on 24 JuneSylvie HUSSON/AFP via Getty Images
This week’s heatwave is the hottest three-day period ever recorded in Europe, as well as the most humid, and it is likely to cause thousands of deaths.
Although a potential “super El Niño” is forming in the Pacific Ocean, this did not play a role in the heatwave, a study of western and central Europe by the World Weather Attribution network of scientists has found. Instead, global warming is clearly to blame.
While the weather pattern – a low-pressure heat dome that is trapping hot air from the south – is not unusual, the temperatures are. 50 years ago, a typical June heatwave would have been about 3.5°C cooler, and the temperatures seen over the past three days would have been a less than one-in-10,000-year occurrence.
Daytime temperatures have exceeded 44°C (111°F) in one French town, and nighttime temperatures have remained above 30°C (86°F) in parts of Spain.
