​Why is Europe still not ready for extreme heat?

Key points

• Meteorological summer has begun, ushered in with scorching heat that struck before spring was up.
• Although western Europe is now mostly free from last week’s heat dome – which shattered temperature records for May in the UK and Ireland – it is already bracing for yet another sweltering summer.
• Oppressive days, restless nights and furious fires are brewing.
• On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organisation warned us all to prepare for the imminent return of the warming weather pattern El Niño.
• Scientists have not worked out how many people died during this latest bout of hot weather, but one environmental epidemiologist’s early modelling pegged it at 250 extra deaths in the UK alone on the weekend before temperatures peaked.