In 2021, Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, 1°C warmer than the average for the reference period 1991-2020, according to a report published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), one of the six thematic information services provided by the European Union’s Copernicus programme, on Friday 22 April, Earth Day.
This is particularly true for the Mediterranean region, which experienced an intense and prolonged heat wave in July and August. Temperature records were broken in Italy and Spain, the report highlighted, peaking at 48.8°C in Sicily, a provisional record for the whole of Europe.
Sea surface temperatures were also abnormally warm in June and July, exceeding the average by more than 5°C over part of the Baltic Sea.
In addition, some countries in Western and Central Europe have experienced some of the lowest annual wind speeds since at least 1979, notes C3S.
These exceptional conditions have led to several extreme weather events. Intense forest fires have burned more than 800,000 hectares in several European countries, including Turkey, Greece and Italy, while Belgium and western Germany were hit by record rainfall on 14 July 2021, resulting in floods in which more than 200 people died.
Commenting on the findings of the report, C3S Director Carlo Buontempo said: “2021 was a year of extremes, including the hottest summer in Europe, heatwaves in the Mediterranean, flooding and wind droughts in western Europe”.
Mauro Facchini, Head of Earth observation at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, said the report underlines “the urgent necessity to act as climate related extreme events are already occurring in Europe”.
Then added: “Scientific experts like the IPCC have warned that we are running out of time to limit global warming to 1.5°C”.
From a long-term perspective, the report points to a clear increase in global and European temperatures compared to pre-industrial levels (between 1.1 and 1.2°C for the world and around 2°C for Europe).
The last 7 years have been the warmest on record.
Nevertheless, 2021 is among the coolest of these, ranking 6th or 7th, due in part to the La Niña weather phenomenon which has resulted in lower average sea surface temperatures than in previous years.
The greenhouse gas concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and especially methane (CH4), on the other hand, continued to increase in 2021, by about 2.3 ppm (parts per million) and 16.5 ppb (parts per billion) respectively, as shown in the C3S data.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/1bt (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)