What causes the increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves?

The Earth is getting warmer, and that makes heatwaves happen more often and feel stronger.

Imagine your bedroom is like the Earth. When it's sunny outside, the sunlight comes in through the window and warms up everything inside, your bed, your toys, even you! Now imagine the window doesn’t close properly anymore, so more sunlight pours in than before. That makes the room hotter and hotter each day.

That’s kind of what’s happening with heatwaves. The Earth is like a big bedroom, and the sun is shining brighter and longer because something called greenhouse gases are trapping more heat from the sun, like a blanket that doesn’t let the warmth escape. These gases come from things like cars, factories, and even when we burn wood or coal.

So, with this extra heat trapped in, each heatwave feels like it’s coming from a hotter room, it lasts longer, gets more intense, and happens more often.

Think of the Earth as having a summer that never ends. At first, you just feel the warmth a little more than usual, but soon, it's like your bedroom has become a hot tub on a sunny day. That’s how heatwaves are becoming stronger and more common, because the Earth is getting warmer all year round.