Week of sweltering US heat – is this the new normal in a warming world?

Experts say brutal temperatures across much of US set to become more common as planet continues to heat up

The list of climate-related disasters in the US was long last week as vast swathes of America sweated under a brutal heatwave.

There was a mass-casualty event" of fainting high-schoolers in New Jersey as a K-pop concert was cut short in Washington. Young hikers had to be rescued in New Hampshire as tarmac roads bucked and melted in South Dakota and Nebraska.