Study: Climate Change Behind Europe's Record Heatwave
Study: Climate Change FuelsBehind Europe's Record-Breaking Heatwave
The Spin
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 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.
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 global mean temperature. Blaming climate change for routine weather patterns is sensationalism, not science but sensationalism.
Metaculus Prediction
There's a 50% chance that there will be at least 2˚C of global warming by 2100, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
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