Act to stop deadly 50C heat becoming norm in Europe

Yearly heatwaves by 2100 likely without cut to emissions

- DAISY DUNNE

Europe could see near 50C heat every year by the end of the century if urgent action is not taken to slash greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Met Office analysis.

This summer’s deadly European heatwave – named Lucifer – which saw a new temperature record of 48.8C set in Sicily, would have been impossible without the climate crisis, the analysis found.

Such heat in Europe can now be expected once every three years as a result of the global warming that Earth has already endured, it added. Unless drastic action is taken, the risk of record-breaking heat will continue to climb in the coming decades.

“Dangerous climate change is already with us,” Prof Peter Stott, analysis author and a leading extreme weather scientist at the Met Office, told The Independent at the fringes of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.