Meteorologists, atmosphere researchers and climate modellers throughout Europe have a summer job this year. Reporters and television crews are queuing up for interviews, demanding explanations about whether the current heatwave means that man-made climate change has finally arrived.

The heat produces strange fancies in some quarters. On 8 August, for example, Germany's best-selling newspaper, the Bild, splashed this on its front page: “Heat researchers alarmed: Equator dramatically shifted.” That kind of thing doesn't do much for public understanding of science. But in these overheated days, it is essential that scientists and journalists find the right balance in telling people what they should expect, or even fear, in tomorrow's weather.

Some may be tempted to use the heatwave to ram home the fact that climate change is probably with us, but researchers must not overshoot the mark in their public statements. Unusually warm summers, after all, occur from time to time anyway.

But there's nothing wrong with scientists taking the opportunity to remind the public and policy-makers that climate change is real. Global mean temperatures have increased by about 1 °C over the past hundred years, and will probably keep rising. Evidence is growing that this trend will lead to changes in atmospheric circulation that correlate with increased occurrence of extreme weather events, such as storms, droughts, floods and heatwaves (see Nature 421, 805; 2003).

Humans have had little experience of climate change during our brief, recorded history. Throughout the Holocene — the past 11,000 years or so — global mean temperatures have been pretty stable. But during glacial and inter-glacial times, for example, people had to adapt to substantial climate fluctuations.

As we enter a period that climate researchers have dubbed the 'Anthropocene', we must develop strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change on health, safety and prosperity. Those who can afford it can take out insurance. Perhaps the current heatwave in wealthy Western Europe will build public support for a global fund to help the billions of people in poor countries who don't have that choice.