When the Term "Heatwave" Is No Longer Enough

A groundbreaking Reuters investigation explains that massive “heat storms” now “swarm the planet”

The sun rises over the central London skyline on August 6, 2026, during a summer of extreme heat in Europe. (Ben Whitley / PA Wire WEATHER / Associated Press)

In a landmark piece of climate journalism, Reuters has just published a groundbreaking investigation arguing that the term “heat waves” no longer adequately captures what is happening on the planet. A better term is “heat storms,” wrote Maurice Tamman, a veteran investigative journalist who was the lead reporter on “The Age of Heat Storms” project.

“[S]upersized heatwaves used to be rare,” Tamman wrote. “No longer. Now they swarm the planet.” In a video accompanying the report, he explained that, “whereas heatwaves were once small and relatively self-contained, now we live in a world where these heatwaves are massive.”