In May, both Iceland and Greenland experienced record-breaking heat. A new rapid analysis has found that the heat wave in both regions was made worse and more likely in today’s warmer climate. The analysis was conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers that evaluates the role of climate change in extreme weather events. On May 15, Egilsstaðir Airport in Iceland recorded a temperature of 26.6°C (79.9°F), breaking previous May records in the country. Across Iceland, May temperatures were 13°C (23.4°F) hotter than the month’s 1991-2020 average. Meanwhile, the Ittoqqortoormiit station in eastern Greenland reported a temperature of 14.3°C (57.7°F) on May 19, which is 13°C (23.4°F) above the month’s average daily maximum temperature. “This heat wave was particularly exceptional in that it lasted a long time and it occurred early in the season,” Sarah Kew, report co-author and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, said during an online briefing. The scientists combined observed weather data over the past decades with climate models and found that “the 7-day May heat experienced in Iceland is about 3°C [5.4°F] hotter due to human induced climate change,” the authors write. In Greenland, the hottest day this May was about 3.9°C (7°F) warmer than in a preindustrial climate. Between May 15 and May 21, data also showed that the melting of Greenland’s Ice Sheet increased by 17 times the average. Greenland already loses around 43 billion metric tons of ice annually. “Both countries reflect the broader Arctic trend for…This article was originally published on Mongabay