Scientists say current heat wave in the Mediterranean is 'virtually impossible' without climate change
Kyiv • UNN
A group of climate scientists said the July heat wave in the Mediterranean would not have been possible without global warming. Temperatures were 3.3°C higher due to climate change, with extreme heat becoming more frequent.
The heat wave observed in the Mediterranean in July would have been "virtually impossible" in the world without global warming, a group of climate scientists said on Wednesday, UNN reports citing AFP.
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The deadly heat wave brought temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius to southern Europe and North Africa, where such extreme summer periods are becoming more common.
A sweltering heat wave claimed more than 20 lives in a single day in Morocco, sparked forest fires in Greece and the Balkans, and added to the strain on athletes competing across France at the Summer Olympics.
World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists who are pioneering peer-reviewed methods for assessing the possible role of climate change in specific extreme events, said this situation is understandable.
"The extreme temperatures reached in July would have been virtually impossible if humans had not been heating the planet by burning fossil fuels," says the WWA report, compiled by five researchers.
The analysis looked at the average temperature in July and focused on the region that includes Morocco, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Greece.
Scientists used this and other climate data to assess how the heat in July compared to similar periods in the world before humanity began burning oil, coal, and gas rapidly.
They concluded that the heat recorded in Europe was 3.3 degrees higher due to climate change.
Beyond the Mediterranean, this week's intense heat wave reached Paris, where athletes participating in the Olympic Games had a tough time when temperatures reached the mid-30s this week.
"Extremely hot July months are no longer rare events," said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-author of the study.
"In today's climate... July with extreme heat is expected about once a decade," she said.
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Scientists have long established that climate change leads to extreme weather and makes heat waves longer, hotter, and more frequent.
This latest episode comes in a month when global temperatures soared to their highest levels on record, with four of the hottest days observed by scientists recorded in the history books in July.
The last 13 months have been the warmest period on record, exceeding the 1.5°C limit that scientists say must be maintained for a long time to avoid catastrophic climate change.
