Extreme summer heat in the U.S. and Europe ‘virtually impossible’ without climate change

The heat waves stretching across North America and Europe this month would have been “virtually impossible” without the human-induced climate emergency, according to a new scientific study.

In China, meanwhile, an intense period of scorching heat — that saw temperatures soaring above 52 degrees Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) in mid-July — was roughly 50 times more likely as a result of global warming, the study found.

Published Tuesday by the World Weather Attribution group, the study said heat waves are among the deadliest natural hazards with thousands of people dying from heat-related causes each year.

Typically, however, these events had been “extremely rare,” with the recent bouts of oppressive heat seen about once every 15 years in the U.S. and Mexico region, once every 15 years in southern Europe, and once every five years in China.

Ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions mean these events are not rare anymore, the study said.

“Totally unsurprising but important result,” Friederike Otto, a scientist and senior lecturer at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change in London, who contributed to the research, said via Twitter.

“This is what climate change looks & feels. We need to adapt, we need to stop making it worse.”

The study comes shortly after the planet registered its hottest day since records began for the third time in just four days earlier this month. Scientists say the extreme weather sweeping across the globe reaffirms the increasing urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and deeply as possible.

The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization also says it underpins why “we have to step up efforts to help society adapt to what is, unfortunately, becoming the new normal.”