New research shows that the damaging fires during the UK’s record-breaking 2022 heatwave were made at least six times more likely due to human-caused climate change.
New research shows that the damaging fires during the UK’s record-breaking 2022 heatwave were made at least six times more likely due to human-caused climate change.
That summer saw temperatures in this country hit 40°C for the first time and left firefighters stretched, with London Fire Brigade having its ‘busiest day since the Second World War’.
The study, involving the Met Office, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the University of Exeter, highlights how rising temperatures and drier conditions driven by climate change, are dramatically increasing the risk of extreme fire weather in the UK. England emerged as the most vulnerable UK nation in the paper, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Read More: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Firefighters tackle a blaze at Shirley Hills near Croydon, in searing temperatures in July 2022. (Photo Credit: Peter Trimming)
