Summer in the Northern Hemisphere has already seen record-breaking heat waves and devastating wildfires in countries including Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Canada.
It’s a situation that has been made much more likely by human-caused climate change, according to the Weather Attribution Initiative.
Another aggravating factor, setting the stage for higher global temperatures and disruptive weather in general, is the start of El Niño — which was officially declared by the World Meteorological Organization on July 4.