Science & technology | The climate in 2100

Temperatures of 50°C will become much more common around the Mediterranean

Spikes above 45°C are likely every year by 2100

A man walks away with his sheeps from an advancing fire on August 2, 2021 in Mugla, Marmaris district, as the European Union sent help to Turkey and volunteers joined firefighters in battling a week of violent blazes that have killed eight people.
Image: Getty Images

Spring was a scorcher in the Mediterranean. A heatwave in April saw temperatures up to 20°C higher than usual in Algeria, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Scientists used to hesitate to blame a particular piece of weather on climate change. These days they are more confident. World Weather Attribution, a network of climate modellers, reckons that the heatwave was made around 100 times more likely by the greenhouse gases that are piling up in the atmosphere.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Melting the Med”

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