Yes, Britain had a heatwave in 1976. No, it was nothing like the crisis we’re in now | Ella Gilbert

As a climate scientist, I'm tired of hearing about that summer. The extreme heat we're experiencing globally has no precedent

I'm too young to remember the 1976 heatwave. But as a climate scientist, I'm tired of hearing about why it means we shouldn't take the climate crisis seriously. 1976 was undeniably a hot summer. A really hot summer, in fact. Temperatures topped 32C (89.6F) somewhere in the UK for 15 days on the trot, climbing to a maximum of 35.9C on 3 July. But in many ways it was nothing like the heatwave we're enduring right now.

In 1976, the UK was an anomalous red blob of unusual heat on a map of distinctly normal summer temperatures. Contrast that to July 2022, and there are few places on Earth where temperatures are not considerably above average. What makes 2022 a lot worse than 1976 is not just the temperature itself - which will be 4-5C higher than in 1976 if the forecasts are accurate - but how large an area is currently feeling the heat. Parts of Spain, Portugal, France and Italy have been baking in 40C-plus heat for days on end. Combined with extremely dry conditions, the heat has triggered wildfires and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

Dr Ella Gilbert is a climate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey