Climate Change Worsens Heat, Rain, Drought and Fire — SkimNews
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- Met Office said climate change made the UK's hottest summer on record in 2026 130 times more likely, with five widespread heatwaves and 40 days above 30C (86F); climate attribution head Mark McCarthy called the summer "remarkable".
- World Weather Attribution found climate change intensified multiple heatwaves this year, including Australia's worst in six years in January, 45C in India in April, and Europe's deadly June temperatures.
- IPCC reports heavy rainfall has become more frequent and intense over most land regions due to human activity, with the atmosphere holding about 7% more moisture per 1C of warming; the Met Office's 13% wetter UK winters in 2016-2025 are harder to read because rainfall varies sharply year to year.
- Caribbean — researchers found climate change increased the extreme rainfall associated with October 2025's Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the region, by 16%.
- EU Joint Research Centre said climate-driven heatwaves worsened drought across Europe this summer, with the Loire, Po, Rhine and Danube at record low levels; drought was declared in all of Wales and two-thirds of England, and parts of southern England were classified as "severe drought" for the first time.
- Jamaica and Puerto Rico — the World Weather Attribution group found global warming made extreme dry conditions 40% more likely in Jamaica and 30% more likely in Puerto Rico during May 2026.
- UN Environment Programme projects the number of the most extreme fires rising by up to 50% by 2100 as shifting land use and climate change combine; January 2026 fires in Chile and Argentina burned an area about 36% larger because of climate change and triggered 55,000 evacuations.
Why it matters: Europe's water managers and farmers now face competing demands as the Loire, Po, Rhine and Danube hit record lows and parts of southern England enter a "severe drought" classification used for the first time. In Canada, more than 5,000 wildfires this summer produced some of the world's worst recorded urban air quality.
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