Climate crisis makes South Asia heatwaves ’30 times more likely’

The devastating heatwave that has baked India and Pakistan in recent months was made more likely by climate change and is a glimpse of the region’s future, says a study by international scientists.

The World Weather Attribution group analysed historical weather data that suggested early, long heatwaves that affect a massive geographical area are rare, once-a-century events.

But the current level of global warming, created by human-caused climate change, has made those heatwaves 30 times more likely, said the group’s study released on Monday.

If global heating increases to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) more than pre-industrial levels, then heatwaves like this could occur twice in a century and up to once every five years, said Arpita Mondal, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, who was part of the study....