Summer 2025 is roasting hot: these charts show why it matters

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By Giorgia Guglielmi, Nature. 

Excerpt: Two intense heatwaves have swept across Europe, causing hundreds of heat-related deaths, fuelling wildfires and pushing power systems to their limit — and more are on the way. From mid-June to early July, Western Europe experienced its highest average temperatures for this period in decades, and the hottest June on record.... Temperatures soared above 40°C, and up to 46°C in Spain and Portugal, as a result of ‘heat domes’ — caps of high pressure that trap hot air in the atmosphere over an area, causing it to stay hotter for longer. ...Research suggests that heatwaves in the region are becoming much more frequent — London can now expect events such as this every 6 years instead of every 60, according to a report published last month by Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute. ...Across 12 major European cities this year, about 1,500 of 2,300 estimated heat-related deaths — 65% — were driven by the extra heat resulting from fossil-fuel emissions, according to the Grantham Institute’s report ...The high temperatures were especially lethal for older adults, with people aged 65 and over making up nearly 90% of those who died.... 

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