In 2003, the most severe heat wave in living memory broke previous temperature records by a large margin and caused 70,000 deaths in Europe. In 2005, the most severe hurricane season ever witnessed in the Atlantic devastated New Orleans and broke records in terms of the number and intensity of storms.
过去这10年充斥着一连串令人震惊的极端气候状况。2003年，近百年来最严重的热浪不但大幅刷新了以往的高温纪录，还造成欧洲7000人死亡。2005年，有史以来最严重的大西洋飓风横扫美国新奥尔良，顺便刷新了暴雨数量和强度两项纪录。