More and more people in Europe are dying from heat. In the past 20 years, the number of deaths due to heat has increased by around 30 percent, according to a joint report on the “State of the European Climate 2023” by the EU climate service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), published on Monday became.
The number of heat-related deaths has increased across Europe, namely in 94 percent of the regions. The consequences are particularly bad in cities because cities are heating up more, explained WMO Director Chris Hewitt.
Extreme heat has been the main cause of weather and climate-related deaths in Europe since 1970. 23 of the 30 most severe heat waves have occurred since 2000, five of them in the past three years. It is estimated that between 55,000 and 72,000 people died as a result of heat waves in the summers of 2003, 2010 and 2022. An estimate for 2023 is not yet available. “We assume that this number will increase. That is one of the big concerns,” said Hewitt.
Record number of days with “extreme heat stress”
The report records a record number of “extreme heat stress” days in 2023. Overall, depending on the data set, the year represents the warmest or second warmest year since records began. Since the 1980s, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average, making it the fastest warming continent on earth, according to the scientists explained.
Europe’s temperature record is currently 48.8 degrees. This temperature was recorded in Sicily on August 11, 2021. In 2023 the thermometer there showed 48.2 degrees. The current year 2024 continues the records: January, February and March are the warmest months since records began. Scientists also expect above-average temperatures in the summer months.
Europe saw a large number of records in 2023, said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus. “Record numbers of Europeans affected by heat stress, record temperatures in the oceans, record melting of glaciers.” In addition, there are extreme events such as the largest forest fire in Europe, numerous floods and storms. “We will continue to experience extreme events, and we know that these extreme events will be more frequent and more intense. So we will likely see more records until we manage to stabilize our climate,” she said.