Earlier this summer – just in late June actually – an oppressive heat wave struck Europe centered on France and Germany.

In France, the city of Gallargues-le-Montueux, near the city of Nîmes, hit 114.6 degrees F (45.9 degrees C) – breaking the country’s all-time heat record, set in 2003, by an astounding 3 degrees F. Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, and Andorra all set new all-time June heat records.

World Weather Attribution scientists conducting a real-time attribution study concluded that the heat wave was at least five times more likely to occur as a result of human-caused climate warming than would have been the case in the absence of  human-caused emissions. However, the scientists cautioned that their estimate was the most conservative they could reach. They reported that climate change may have made the heat wave as much as 100 times more likely than would have been the case in a world without that human input.

The CBS News report on the late-June “oppressive” heat wave in Europe, cited above, was done by meteorologist Jeff Berardelli, CBS News climate change and weather contributor, and recent Yale Climate Connections contributor on climate change and tropical cyclones/hurricanes and, separately, on climate change and extreme heat. Both are parts of a new ongoing “Climate Explained” series at this site. Berardelli is working on additional original reports for this site dealing with climate change and weather.