The heatwave in Saudi Arabia blamed for the deaths of 1,300 people on the haj pilgrimage this month was made worse by climate change, a team of European scientists said.
The heat would have been approximately 2.5C cooler without the influence of human-caused climate change, according to a weather attribution analysis by ClimaMeter.The scientists used satellite observations from the last four decades to compare weather patterns from 1979 to 2001 and 2001 to 2023. The assessment also found that similar past events in Saudi Arabia occurred in May and July, but now June experiences more severe heatwaves.
Climate change has made heatwaves hotter, more frequent and longer lasting. Previous findings by scientists with the World Weather Attribution group suggest that, on average globally, a heatwave is 1.2C hotter than in preindustrial times.