I think they are pointing at an acceleration of the situation. Last summers have been relatively hot in West Europe as well, resulting in people buying airco’s [1]. Of course, people using airco's speeds up global warming (unless the electricity used is 100% renewable).

But at the individual level, it is understandable that people do this during heatwaves. Use green energy ;).

[1] residential buildings traditionally do not have airco’s in countries such as Germany or The Netherlands.