Last year was Europe’s hottest summer and the second warmest year on record, according to the ‘European State of the Climate’ report, published on Thursday 20 April by the European climate observation programme, Copernicus (C3S).
C3S data shows that the average temperature in Europe for the last five-year period was about 2.2°C higher than in the pre-industrial era (1850–1900) and that 2022 was 0.9°C higher than the average (1991–2020). This means that while globally the last eight years have been the warmest on record in recent decades, Europe has warmed up faster than any other continent.
In addition to these high temperatures, Europe experienced several extreme events last summer: intense heat waves, drought conditions and large forest fires.
Much of Europe had fewer snow days than average in the winter of 2021–22 and spring precipitation was below average over much of the continent, with May having seen the lowest precipitation on record for that month. The lack of winter snow and high summer temperatures have resulted in record ice loss for Alpine glaciers, which is equivalent to over 5 km3 of ice.
The annual anomaly regarding soil moisture was the second lowest in the last 50 years. Furthermore, river flows in Europe were the second lowest on record. Finally, in terms of area affected, 2022 was the driest year on record, with 63% of European rivers experiencing below-average flows.
Read the summary of the report: https://aeur.eu/f/6fx (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)