Record European heatwave made virtually impossible without climate change

A rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution concluded that the Western Europe heatwave now pushing London toward 38C and Paris toward 40C would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change. World Weather Attribution found the region’s scorching night-time temperatures were 100 times more likely than they were two decades ago, and that a similar heatwave in June 1976 would have been about 3.5C cooler. Among more than 800 European cities examined, 45% have already recorded, or are forecast to record, their highest late-June heat stress levels.

World Weather Attribution called the event the most severe heatwave ever recorded in the region. Europe’s worst heat usually arrives in July and August, but this blast hit in late June, leaving less time for communities to prepare and less overnight relief for people trying to recover from daytime extremes.

The toll was already spreading across daily life. At least 18 people died in France, schools closed or shifted schedules, power supplies were disrupted, and public events and cultural landmarks were shut or curtailed as temperatures climbed across Western Europe. The heat also raised risks for workers, transit systems and people living in buildings that offered little protection from extreme temperatures after dark.

The United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization mobilized heat-health action plans across the continent, warning that the heat was affecting economic activity, infrastructure, agriculture and ecosystems.