Europe set for 50°C summers without climate progress, Met Office warns

Analysis shows that what was a once-in-10,000-year high temperature will now happen every three years

A street thermometer reading 47ºC during a heatwave, in Seville, Spain, in August. AFP

Climate change means European heatwaves, such as the record temperatures reached this year, could routinely hit 50°C, the UK Met Office has warned.

A new European record temperature of 48.8°C was recorded in Sicily, Italy, in a summer during which wildfires burned out of control from Portugal to Russia. Countries further north also recorded unusually high temperatures.

The 48.8°C temperatures, in the absence of climate change, would be expected to happen only once in 10,000 years. But because of global warming, the likelihood of a repeat has been slashed to a once-in-three-years event.

“Our analysis shows that what is now a one-in-three-year event would have been almost impossible without human-induced climate change,” Met Office climate attribution scientist Dr Nikos Christidis said.

“This is another example of how climate change is already making our weather extremes more severe.”

By the end of the century the conditions could be seen every year, Met Office analysis showed.

“The increasing chances of these extreme events continue to rise,” Prof Peter Stott of the Met Office said. “We can be more confident than we've ever been about linking extreme weather events to climate change.”

A fire burning through a forest near Mandas, in the south of the island of Sardinia, Italy, one of many that swept through Southern Europe and other parts of the Mediterranean this summer. Reuters

Large parts of southern Italy and the wider Mediterranean are experiencing a searing heatwave, which in turn has sparked a series of wildfires. Here, water is dumped on a fire in Petralia Soprana, near Palermo, Sicily. AP

Fire turns the sky a vivid orange near Mandas, southern Sardinia. AP

Four people across southern Italy are thought to have been killed by fires. Pictured here is the Sicilian town of Giarratana burning. Reuters

A man cools off in a fountain at Piazza della Rotonda in Rome in a heatwave that has also devastated parts of Greece, Turkey and Algeria, where deaths and evacuations have been commonplace over the past few days. AFP

A thermometer outside a pharmacy reads 44°C in central Rome. AFP via Getty Images

A boy seeks respite from the sweltering heat at Barcaccia fountain near the Spanish Steps in Rome. Italy is fighting more than 500 fires as a record temperature of nearly 49°C was recorded in Sicily. Reuters

Residents and tourists seek refreshment and shade on another brutally hot day in the Italian capital. EPA

Tourists are sprayed with water by a fan in Rome. EPA

A volunteer distributes free bottles of water to tourists near the Colosseum in Rome. AP

Britain's summer this year was its ninth warmest on record.

Southern Europe experienced intense heatwaves and wildfires this summer and experts warn climate change increases the intensity and frequency of such extreme weather events.

At Cop26, countries are looking to adopt climate-friendly measures to stop temperatures from rising at such a rate.

But despite some optimism, world leaders need to translate their words and promises into action when they return to their home countries, campaigners say.