The successive heat waves that the United Kingdom experienced along with the rest of Europe in the months of May and June caused more than 2,700 deaths, according to a joint study carried out by Imperial College London, the Meteorological Office (known as the Met), and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The researchers estimate that 42% of this excess mortality was caused by overheating resulting from human action.
The study used historical mortality data and applied a peer-reviewed model to calculate excess deaths during both periods, between May 21 and 29, and between June 18 and 28. In the first period, they estimate that about 550 people died due to the heat wave. In the second, the figure rose to about 2,200.
The calculations only refer to England and Wales, the areas of the United Kingdom that suffered the highest temperatures most intensely, and exclude Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Both in May and June, the records reached are, according to the researchers, the result of the impact caused by climate change. In May, the highest historical temperature was recorded in west London, at 35.1°. In June, there were three consecutive days of new records, reaching 37° in the East Anglia area.
Average daytime temperatures in both England and Wales are now, according to the study, between 3° and 4° higher due to global warming caused by human action.
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“Every time one of these heat waves occurs, television news is flooded with reporters at pools, images of people eating ice cream, and bathers on beaches. We all love the sun, but people must be aware that we are facing very dangerous heat, caused by climate change, which is causing deaths, disrupting the rhythm of schools and hospitals, and closing infrastructures and transport,” warned Clair Barnes, Climate Change and Extreme Weather researcher at Imperial College. “It is time to wake up to the idea that we live in a country with very dangerous hot summers. To protect people in the future, we must urgently adapt to the new reality and redouble international efforts to achieve the zero emissions goal,” she demanded.
The UK Health Security Agency had already estimated more than 10,000 deaths resulting from high temperatures in the heat waves that occurred in 2020 and 2024. The trend continues, and this year the United Kingdom has also contributed thousands of deaths to the huge figures recorded across Europe.
The lack of preparedness in homes, schools, hospitals, and public transport has been generating public debate for years about the urgent need to adapt the country to weather conditions that threaten to become more extreme each year.
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