Just over halfway through July and already a slew of extreme weather records has been broken. Southern Europe is experiencing one of its most extreme heat waves on record, with wildfires raging in Greece, Spain and Switzerland. It’s a shifting baseline of ever-more devastating impacts as long as the Earth continues to warm.”For scientists like Mann and Cloke, this year’s extreme weather has largely not been surprising. Extreme heat could be quickly followed by heavy rainfall impacting society, agriculture, and ecosystems in unusual ways,” she told CNN. The planet is around 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was before the industrial revolution – still short of the 1.5 degrees scientists are warning the planet should stay under.

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Persons: Petteri Taalas, ”, Hannah Cloke, Kim Hong, Reuters Michael E, Mann, we’ve, Cloke, Brandon Bell, Peter Stott, –, ” Mann, Vikki Thompson, ” Thompson, ” Read Organizations: CNN, Southwest, World Meteorological Organization, University of Reading, Reuters, University of Pennsylvania, UK Met Office, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute Locations: Northern, Southwest United States, Phoenix , Arizona, Southern Europe, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Asia, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Cheongju, Antarctica, North, Phoenix, “