Inside Climate News – The extreme heat wave that has gripped Europe and sent temperatures soaring to 114 degrees Fahrenheit was made at least five times more likely by global warming, scientists with the World Weather Attribution group said Tuesday.It was a quick and unambiguous finding, a judgment that in past times would have been harder to declare without heavy hedging.

The week of heat threatened vulnerable older people, damaged roads and railroad tracks and forced a rescheduling of national school exams in France. The Swiss meteorological service called it one of the most intense heat waves in that country’s history and said the heat had a clear climate change signal.