A new study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group reveals that climate change significantly intensified this summer’s massive wildfires in Turkiye, Greece, and Cyprus. The fires, which killed 20 people and burned over 1 million hectares, were found to be 22% more intense due to human-caused climate change, making 2025 Europe’s worst-ever recorded year for wildfires.
Drier Conditions and Stronger Winds Fuel the Blazes
The research highlights a clear link between climate change and the meteorological conditions that drove the fires. The study found that winter rainfall ahead of the fire season had dropped by about 14% since the pre-industrial era. In addition, climate change has made weeklong periods of dry, hot air 13 times more likely, priming vegetation to burn.
The analysis also found that high-pressure systems are increasing the intensity of the strong northerly Etesian winds, which fanned the wildfires and made them more difficult for firefighters to control.
According to Theodore Keeping, a researcher at Imperial College London, the findings show a strong climate change signal toward hotter and drier conditions. He warned that with current warming of 1.3°C, new extremes in wildfire behavior are already pushing firefighters to their limits and that the world is heading toward up to 3°C of warming this century if the transition away from fossil fuels does not accelerate.
Climate change intensified weather that fuelled deadly wildfires in Türkiye, Greece and Cyprus.