(Main image courtesy of Newport Institute)
According to a scientific attribution analysis, the July 2025 heatwave that impacted Norway, Sweden, and Finland was made at least 10 times more likely and approximately 2°C hotter by human-induced climate change. This should serve as a stern warning to climate change critics.
The Extreme Heat: The heat observers across the region recorded temperatures of above 30°C, with Finland noting 22 consecutive days above 30°C (its longest heatwave on record), including some meteorological sites, above the ordinary 22–25°C on a summer day, reporting highs of 33–35°C. Norway’s Arctic region has the distinction of enduring 13 days above 30°C, with an additional several Swedish municipalities ‘enjoying’ two weeks of extreme heat.
Climate Attribution: A rapid attribution study conducted by World Weather Attribution scientists concluded that such an event is more than 10 times as likely in the current climate (which is already approximately 1.3°C worse than pre-industrial times) than it is in the world of 1.3°C cooler than today, when such an extended and intense heatwave would have been almost impossible.
Future Risk: With further warming, the number of similar heatwaves will become increasingly common and intense; if global emissions are not significantly reduced by the end of the century, these ‘episodes’ could happen every 2 – 3 years in Scandinavia and become even warmer.
Impacts: The intense heatwave overload stressed hospitals, drowned more people than usual, caused a major wildfire that destroyed vast regions and toxic algae blooms, and massively disrupted wildlife (mass death in Reindeer, animals showing up in towns to get relief from the heat).
Strained Healthcare: Overcrowded, overheated hospitals struggled, and Nordic municipal and social services were stretched dangerously thin levels of resiliency due to both the intensity and prolonged duration of the event.
Prof Friederike Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London who heads the World Weather Attribution (WWA) collaboration, which did the Nordic study, said: “Even relatively cold Scandinavian countries are facing dangerous heatwaves today with 1.3 °C of warming – no country is safe from climate change.
“Burning oil, gas, and coal is killing people today. Fossil fuels are supercharging extreme weather, and to stop the climate from becoming more dangerous, we need to stop burning them and shift to renewable energy.”
“This event should be taken as another reminder that no country is safe from climate change.”
You’ve been warned.