‘Hotter and hotter and hotter’ – Europe’s new climate in seven charts

We may only be a few days into July, but two record-breaking summer heatwaves have already given the UK and Europe a snapshot of their new climate.

In June, hot on the heels of the May heat, temperature records were not just broken but shattered in what the UN weather agency called an “extraordinary” continent-wide event.

After a short break, a new heat wave is coming.

If this sounds unusual, that’s because it is. But this is also the same thing that scientists predict in our warmer world, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels and the release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

“Human-caused climate change has made such events more likely and more intense,” said Prof Stephen Belcher, chief scientist at the UK Met Office.

The intensity of these heatwaves is clear from the extent to which temperatures were above normal across the UK in May and June, marked here in red.