Article via https://www.eurekalert.org
The findings show that the maximum temperature of the hottest days is increasing at twice the rate of the maximum temperature of average summer days.
Worryingly, while current climate models accurately predict the rate of warming for average days, they underestimate the rate at which the hottest days are warming compared to observations.
Although the maximum recorded temperature varied between years, the overall trend clearly showed that the hottest days for North-West Europe had warmed at twice the rate of average summer days.
The reason causing this faster warming of the hottest days relative to average summer days is not yet understood.
Because Spain is warming faster than North-West Europe, this means that air carried in from this region is ever more extreme relative to the ambient air in North-West Europe.