New data from the European Union’s climate satellite Copernicus has showed that Europe’s climate change is not consistent across the whole continent.
Although the month of August was the joint third-hottest across the globe on record, it wasn’t quite that straightforward in Europe as, while heat records were broken across southern Europe, which ignited hundreds of wildfires as a result, it was colder than average in northern Europe.
But if the dataset is extended from June to August, it becomes clear the European summer was the hottest since 1991, 1 degree Celsius warmer than the average. But 2010 and 2018 were only 0.1 degree cooler.
In Italy, the “highest ever” temperature recorded in Europe was 48.8 degrees Celsius in August. It’s yet to be verified by the World Meteorological Organization, but it could be the hottest weather in Europe since 1977.
Eastern Europe was also warmer than normal, according to the Copernicus project.
“Warmer-than-average conditions occurred from the north of the Black Sea right across Siberia, with the most anomalous temperatures found to the north of the Caspian Sea,” it revealed.
In Spain record-breaking high temperatures, saw several regions on high alert for virtually the whole of July and August as temperatures approached 40c in Madrid and 47c in Andalusia.
An official from the World Meteorogical Organisation (WMO), Robert Stefanski, warned that temperatures in Spain will continue to steadily increase, unless governments can find a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He went on to add that this will lead to the elevated risk of drought and wildfires within the next 20 to 30 years.