The summer months from June to August were warmer in Europe than at any time since records began. This was announced by the EU climate change service Copernicus on Thursday. The average temperature in the three summer months was 0.4 degrees Celsius above the same period last year. In August, the average temperature was even 0.8 degrees higher than August 2021.
In Eastern Europe in particular, temperatures climbed well above the long-term average. “They were also well above average in southwestern Europe, where temperatures were also high in June and July,” the service said in a statement. “North America also experienced one of its warmest summers.”
From a global perspective, the average temperature of the air on the earth’s surface in August 2022 was 0.3 degrees higher than the monthly average between 1991 and 2020. According to Copernicus, August 2022 was the third warmest since records began.
August in particular was much drier than average in large parts of Western Europe and parts of Eastern Europe. However, there were also regions with above-average humidity: in most parts of Scandinavia and in parts of southern and south-eastern Europe, more precipitation fell than the long-term average. “Conditions were also above average in many extratropical regions of North America and Asia: In many places, heavy rainfall triggered flooding and inundation,” the statement said.
“A series of intense heat waves across Europe, coupled with unusually dry conditions, has resulted in a summer of extremes in many parts of Europe, with record temperatures, drought and fire activity,” Copernicus scientist Freja Vamborg is quoted as saying in the release. This has affected society as well as nature in different ways.
The Copernicus records go back to 1979. The climate change service also uses data from ground stations, balloons, airplanes and satellites going back to 1950.
With material from dpa