‘Without human-induced climate change, it would have been almost impossible to hit such record-breaking mean June temperatures in the Western United States and Canada as the chances of natural occurrence is once every tens of thousands of years,’ according to WMO.

In a statement, the WMO has said that these early summer hot weather conditions are taking place against the background of human-induced climate change with global temperatures already 1.2 C higher than pre-industrial levels.

‘Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense as greenhouse gas concentrations lead to a rise in global temperatures. They are starting earlier and ending later and are taking an increasing toll on human health and health systems,’ the statement said.

Extreme temperatures pose a great threat to human health, agriculture and environment because the northern region of the western hemisphere is not used to heatwaves, WMO warned.

pgh/Pll/msm / joe