Europe's record heat wave 'virtually impossible' without climate change, analysis finds

Europe's recent record-shattering heat wave was made "virtually impossible" just a few decades ago, according to a new analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) scientific network. The group unequivocally blames the human-driven climate crisis for the region's most severe heat event ever recorded.

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virtually impossible

Massive portions of Europe have been trapped under a persistent heat dome, leading to extreme and dangerous temperatures. France, the UK, Spain, and Switzerland all experienced record-breaking high temperatures, with many records falling within days or even hours of being set. The WWA scientists compared current extreme heat data with historical records from 1976 and 2003, finding that the world's warming of nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) over the past 50 years has "immensely" increased the chances of such events.

A heat wave similar to the current one in June 1976 would have been a startling 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit cooler, the study found. Nighttime temperatures, which offer no respite for the body, have also reached record highs. Europe's sweltering nights are now about 100 times more likely than they were in 2003, a year that saw a major heat wave kill over 70,000 people.

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most severe ever recorded

The analysis also examined the impact of high humidity, finding that 45% of 854 cities across 30 affected European countries are nearing or have broken their all-time records for wet bulb globe temperature. This metric combines temperature, humidity, sun, and wind to measure heat stress, indicating how difficult it is for the body to cool itself through mechanisms like sweating.

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virtually impossible