Climate change

Study: Climate Change Behind Europe's Record Heatwave

Is Europe's deadly heatwave proof of climate change or just a natural weather pattern blown out of proportion?

Published JUN 26

Study: Climate Change Behind Europe's Record Heatwave

Story

Above: A map of Europe shows a heatwave on the continent on June 24. Image credit: Sabrina Blanchard and Sylvie Husson/AFP Getty Images

The Facts

A study by the World Weather Attribution group released Friday found that Europe's current heatwave is the most severe ever recorded for the region and would have been "virtually impossible" 50 years ago without human-caused climate change.
PHYS
Reuters
World Weather Attribution
Scientists estimated a comparable heatwave in June 1976 would have been about 3.5°C cooler during the day, while a similar event in 2003 would have been roughly 2°C cooler, reflecting how rapidly warming has accelerated.
The New York Times
Politico
Nighttime temperatures during the heatwave are approximately 100 times more likely today than they were in 2003, when a major European heatwave killed more than 70,000 people. High overnight temperatures limit the body's ability to recover from daytime heat stress.
New Scientist
CNN
9News Australia on Instagram
Of roughly 850 European cities analyzed across 30 countries, 45% have broken or are forecast to break all-time records for wet-bulb globe temperature, a measure that combines heat, humidity, sun and wind and reflects the body's ability to cool itself.
Financial Times
France 24
The WWA study ruled out El Niño as a contributing factor to the heatwave, attributing the extreme temperatures instead to global warming driven by fossil fuel emissions. The planet has warmed approximately 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels.
Guardian
Al Jazeera
Fox 59
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, as daytime temperature extremes increased three times faster than the global average rate of warming. Scientists warned that heatwaves will grow more intense and frequent without rapid reductions in fossil fuel emissions.
Financial Times
CNN

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The Spin

Climate-concerned narrative

Climate change made Europe's record-breaking heatwave possible — without it, these temperatures would've been virtually impossible just 50 years ago. Daytime highs topped 104°F (40°C) across France, Italy and Spain, and 45% of 850 analyzed cities broke heat stress records. Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, and burning fossil fuels is driving every bit of it.

Jamie Raskin on X

The Hill

Climate-skeptic narrative

Europe's heatwave is driven by an omega block in the jet stream pushing hot Saharan air northward — a completely natural atmospheric process unrelated to greenhouse gas emissions. Reduced cloud cover from EU pollution regulations likely plays a bigger role than the global mean temperature. Blaming climate change for routine weather patterns is not science but sensationalism.