Researchers estimate that more than 2,700 people may have died in England and Wales from heatwaves in May and June. Specialists from Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine combined weather records, climate models and excess mortality data to reach this figure. The analysis concludes that 42 percent of those deaths resulted from additional heat caused by human-driven climate change. England set new monthly temperature records of 35.1°C in May and 37.7°C in June. The events were unusually intense and early for the United Kingdom and western Europe. The study attributes roughly 550 deaths to the late-May heatwave and nearly 2,200 to the late-June event. The UK Health Security Agency will issue official mortality statistics in the coming weeks. The findings show that climate change raised peak daytime temperatures by 3°C to 4°C above levels expected without global warming. The Climate Change Committee previously warned that Britain is unprepared for rising heat risks, projecting that most homes could become excessively hot by 2050 and calling for workplace temperature limits plus cooling systems in hospitals and schools.
