Global Warming in Europe

is only now becoming clear. June, July and August were the warmest three months recorded in western and central Europe. And they were the warmest by a very long way. Like Britain, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland had record national highs. Over a great rectangular block stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78°C higher than the long-term norm, says the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, one of the world's leading institutions for monitoring and analysing temperature records. That might not seem a lot until you are aware of the usual pattern. But then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the unit's director, says openly in a way that few scientists have done - that 2003's extreme temperatures may be directly attributed to global warming caused by human actions, rather than natural climate variations.