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GUEST: Myles Allen, physicist and climate change scientist at Oxford University, Pardeep Pall, Graduate student in climate science at Oxford University

At least four people died in Southern California over this past weekend due to the record-breaking, triple-digit heat wave gripping the state. Officials say more than two dozen other people may have died from severe heat in the Central Valley. The first six months of 2006 were the warmest year in the US since record keeping began in 1895. One of the top US global warming computer modelers, Kevin Trenberth, told the San Francisco Chronicle “I think there are very good reasons to believe that the current US heat wave is at least partly caused by global warming.” Other experts say it’s too early to blame the current weather on climate change.

It’s not just the US however. Europe is also facing record temperatures. Britain faced its hottest July day on record last week. This is part of an on-going trend. Three years ago, nearly 15,000 died in France in the summer of 2003, with a total of 19,000 dying that year throughout Europe because of the blistering heat.

For more information, visit http://www.climateprediction.net