Heatwave 'made 100 times more likely by climate change'

SEARING temperatures of 32C this week have been made 100 times more likely because of human-caused climate change, scientists said.

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A rapid study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research group also found the current heatwave in the south-east of England was around 10 times more likely than without human activity warming the planet. Dr Fredi Otto, from Imperial College London, warned heatwaves are “silent killers” with the impacts of heat “severely underestimated” and the UK unprepared for the kind of conditions hitting the country into the weekend.

Older people are at the highest risk of death, as well as those with heart issues, respiratory illnesses and conditions such as diabetes, while this kind of heatwave earlier in the summer is more deadly as people are less acclimatised to coping with the warmer conditions, the experts warned.

And wildfires are an “emerging risk” in the summer in the UK, with conditions becoming more like southern Europe, the researchers said as they urged people to be very careful about barbecues, cigarettes and glass which can all ignite fires in the hot, dry weather.