Europe endured its joint hottest year on RECORD in 2023 - with temperatures ... trends now
2023 was Europe's joint-hottest year on record - and it was largely thanks to climate change, experts say.
Europe's overall temperature last year was 1.8°F (1°C) above average, the EU's climate change programme has revealed – putting it on a par with 2020.
Worryingly, temperatures in the continent were higher than the average for 11 months of the year, including the warmest September on record.
2023 saw a record number of days with 'extreme heat stress', where the heat was so severe that it impacted human wellbeing, often fatally.
Experts warn that Europe is the 'fastest warming continent' in the world, where temperatures are rising at around twice the global average rate, causing wildfires, droughts and more extreme weather events.
Europe endured its joint hottest year on record last year. In this disturbing photo reflecting the state of the modern climate, people stand in front of a forest fire in New Peramos, near Athens, on July 19, 2023
Europe's average temperature in 2023 was 1.8°F (1°C) above average, the EU's climate change programme has revealed - putting it on a par with 2020
Scientists at Copernicus Climate Service (C3S) have already confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record globally, but the new report is specific to Europe.
Globally, 2023 has already been dubbed the year Earth suffered the costliest climate disasters like droughts, floods, wildfires and lethal heatwaves, largely due to greenhouse gas emissions – but these occurred all over Europe.
'In 2023, Europe witnessed the largest wildfire ever recorded, one of the wettest years, severe marine heatwaves and widespread devastating flooding,' said Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S.
'Temperatures continue to increase, making our data ever more vital in preparing for the impacts of climate change.'
Celeste Saulo, secretary-general at the World Meteorological Organization, pointed the finger squarely at greenhouse gas emissions.
“The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our generation,' she said.
'The cost of climate action may seem high but the cost of inaction is much higher.
'As this report shows, we need to leverage science to provide solutions for the good of society.'
September last year saw a concerning amount of temperature anomalies, meaning temperatures were higher than usual for that time of year. This image shows average surface air temperature anomalies (°C) over Europe for June to September 2023, relative to the monthly average for the 1991–2020 reference period
Europe experienced widespread flooding and severe heatwaves last year. Here, a man cools down near a fountain at Piazza Castello during a heatwave in Turin, Italy, August 25, 2023
Spain issued hot weather red alerts for three regions due to the 'extreme' danger posed by scorching temperatures in July 2023
An aircraft drops water on a fire burning in the Gale de Cima area in the municipality of Aljezur, south of Portugal, August 9, 2023
A firefighter tries to extinguish a wildfire burning at the industrial zone of the city of Volos, in central Greece, July 26, 2023
According to CS3's dataset – which captures hourly data on atmospheric, land and sea temperature metrics – 2023 and 2020 tied as Europe's warmest years.
In both years, Europe's average surface air temperature (how hot air is 6.5 feet from Earth's surface) was 1.8°F or 1°C higher than the 1991-2020 average.
And surface air temperature
