2024 was the warmest year in Europe's history - C3S and WMO report

2024 became the warmest year in Europe since the beginning of observations on the continent. This is reported by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), writes UNN.

Details

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have published the second joint annual report on the state of the climate in Europe.

Europe remains the fastest warming continent in the world. According to reports, record high temperatures have engulfed almost half of the continent. This was especially felt in the central, eastern and south-eastern regions.

2024 was also remembered for large-scale natural disasters. At least 335 people died and more than 400,000 were affected by storms and floods.

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In particular, according to the report, in 2024 there was:

• Sea surface temperature in the region was 0.7°C higher than normal, and in the Mediterranean Sea - 1.2°C;

• Precipitation: there was a clear contrast in precipitation conditions from east to west. Western Europe had one of the ten wettest years in the analyzed period since 1950;

• Floods became the largest since 2013: almost 30% of the river network exceeded the "high" water level, 12% - "strong";

• Heat stress was the second most intense in the history of observations - 60% of the territory recorded more days with severe or extreme stress on the body;

• Glaciers in Scandinavia and Spitsbergen lost the most mass in all years of measurements;

• The share of renewable energy in Europe's energy sector reached a record 45%; Extremely low temperatures: the area of Europe that experienced less than three months (90 days) of frost days was the largest on record (~69%, the average is 50%);

• A record low number of days with at least "severe cold stress" was recorded;

• All European regions experienced ice loss; glaciers in Scandinavia and Spitsbergen recorded the highest rates of mass loss on record;

• In September, forest fires in Portugal covered about 110,000 ha (1,100 km2) in one week, which is about a quarter of the total annual fire area in Europe. It is estimated that 42,000 people were affected by forest fires in Europe.

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2024 was the warmest year on record in Europe. We observed the longest heat wave in southeastern Europe and a record loss of glacier mass in Scandinavia and Svalbard. But 2024 was also a year of marked climate contrasts between eastern and western Europe

2024 was also marked by a strong climatic gap between Eastern and Western Europe. In the east - dry and hot weather, in the west - wet and cloudy. This affected precipitation, sunshine duration, river flow and solar energy generation.

In July, Southeastern Europe experienced the longest heat wave, which lasted 13 days. Some regions recorded 66 days with "severe heat stress" and 23 tropical nights.

Recall

According to Copernicus, March 2025 became the warmest in Europe since 1940, the average temperature exceeded the norm by 2.41°C. Arctic sea ice reached a record low.

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