Last updated October 15, 2021
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European Heat Wave 2003

France

More than 70,000 people died during a record-breaking heat wave that left Europe sweltering in June, July and August 2003. In the first quantitative climate change attribution assessment, researchers found that human influence at least doubled the risk of a heatwave exceeding the threshold passed during the extreme European heat wave of 2003.[1] The study also finds that climate change made such an extreme heat event 4 times as likely.[1]

The period of extreme heat is thought to be the warmest for up to 500 years, and many European countries experienced their highest temperatures on record. One of the clearest findings of climate science is that heat waves are becoming more common, more intense and longer as a result of global warming. Heat waves today are already happening in a world that is 1.5°F (0.85°C) warmer than at the beginning of the 20th century. Warming has also influenced the way that weather patterns, including those that usher in heat waves, behave.

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