Met Office: Climate change making heatwaves more intense
A Met Office attribution study, produced this week, has estimated the chances of exceeding the record-breaking temperature witnessed in April and May in 2010 – which saw the highest combined average April and May temperature since 1900.
The study shows that the natural probability of a heatwave exceeding the average temperature in 2010 is once in 312 years. In the current climate – accounting for climate change – the probabilities increase to once in every 3.1 years. And by the end of the century, the study – incorporating climate change projections – shows this will increase to once every 1.15 years.
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Dr Nikos Christidis produced the Met Office attribution study. He said: “Spells of heat have always been a feature of the region’s pre-monsoon climate during April and May. However, our study shows that climate change is driving the heat intensity of these spells making record-breaking temperatures 100 times more likely. By the end of the century increasing climate change is likely to drive temperatures of these values on average every year.”
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Climate change swells odds of record India, Pakistan heatwaves
Climate change makes record-breaking heatwaves in northwest India and Pakistan 100 times more likely, a Met Office study finds.
The region should now expect a heatwave that exceeds the record temperatures seen in 2010 once every three years.
Without climate change, such extreme temperatures would occur only once every 312 years, the Met Office says.
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The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres described the report as “a dismal litany of humanity’s failure to tackle climate disruption.”
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