‘July equaled hottest month’:

Climate

Global warming turbo-charged July’s record-breaking heatwave in Europe by 1.5º-3ºC (2.7º5.4ºF), scientists said on Friday, adding that the intensity in some countries would have been “extremely unlikely” without climate change.

The heatwaves in France and the Netherlands last month would have had a chance of happening only once in 1,000 years in preindustrial times, said a study by the World Weather Attribution group of scientists.

In those two countries, the July heatwave was made about 100 times more likely due to climate change, the scientists said.

In Germany, it was about 50 times more likely and in Britain, where it only lasted one to two days, at least twice as likely.

The analysis, based on modelling and observed data, was produced by researchers with Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and the Dutch, British and French meteorological services.

On Thursday, the World Meteorological Organization said July 2019 at least equalled, if not surpassed, the hottest month in