New metric mapping top 10 European heat waves predicts strong increase in next 2 decades

(Institute of Physics) Scientists have developed a new method to model heat wave magnitude that takes both the duration and the intensity of the heat wave into account. The new metric indicates that a little-studied heat wave in Finland in 1972 had the same extent and magnitude of the 2003 European heat wave that is considered the second strongest heat wave since 1950.The findings are published today, Nov. 27 2015, in the journal Environmental Research Letters.