World Weather Attribution

Published date June 29, 2017

European Heat, June 2017

  • States that record-breaking heat gripped most of Western Europe during June 2017, sending monthly mean temperatures about 3 degrees Celsius (4.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal (1981-2010)
  • Scientists with World Weather Attribution (WWA) and partners in England, France and Switzerland conducted a multi-method analysis to assess whether and to what extent human-caused climate change played a role in the heat
  • Finds that these high temperatures are no longer rare in the current climate, occurring roughly every 10 to 30 years depending on the country
  • The team found that climate change made the intensity and frequency of such extreme heat at least twice as likely in Belgium, at least four times as likely in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and central England and at least 10 times as likely in Portugal and Spain