Europe is the fastest warming continent, warn the authors of the report 'European State of the Climate 2024' (ESOTC), considering last year not only the warmest in the history of the continent, but also the year characterized by the greatest climate contrasts between eastern and western Europe.

For Western Europe, 2024 was one of the rainiest years since at least 1950. The storms were strong and often caused floods. Almost a third of European rivers exceeded the 'high' and 12% the 'severe' flood threshold. In September last year, Storm Boris hit Central and Eastern Europe, bringing torrential rain and causing devastating floods in Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, parts of Germany, Romania and Italy, as well as Hungary and Slovakia. In late October, extreme rainfall and flooding hit Spain, especially the Valencia region. Overall, some 413,000 people in Europe were affected by the floods, with 335 people killed. These were the most widespread floods on the continent since 2013.

At the same time, southern and eastern Europe struggled with extreme heat and droughts in the summer. The report found that the number of days with 'severe', 'very severe' and 'extreme heat stress' - when the body is unable to cool itself effectively due to the heat - was the second highest in Europe’s history.

Sixty percent of the continent recorded more hot days than the previous average. In southeastern Europe, the hottest month was July, when an extreme heatwave lasted for almost two weeks. The region recorded a total of 66 days of 'severe heat stress' and 23 tropical nights during the summer. Europe as a whole recorded almost a month of heat and about 12 tropical nights. Heat can stress the body, and 'high nighttime temperatures can also affect health, offering little respite from daytime heat stress', the researchers write.

It wasn’t just people and animals that suffered because of the heat. The data showed that all regions of the continent also saw a loss of ice, with Europe experiencing the fewest frosty days on record. Glaciers in Scandinavia and Svalbard recorded the highest mass loss rates on record of any glacier region in the world, with an average loss of 1.8m in Scandinavia and 2.7m on Svalbard. It was also the third warmest year on record for the Arctic as a whole, and the fourth warmest for the Arctic landmass.

In turn, southern Europe struggled with fires. In a single week in September, around 110,000 hectares of forest burned down in Portugal, around a quarter of the total area burned in 2024 in Europe. It is estimated that approx. 42,000 Europeans were affected by last year’s fires.

Sea temperatures are also rising, with last year being the warmest on record for the continent, averaging 0.7°C above average, and in the Mediterranean up to 1.2°C above average.

Europe is trying to defend itself. Last year, a record 45% of electricity in the EU was generated from renewable sources, and the number of countries that have started to move away from fossil fuels in favour of alternative energy sources has doubled compared to 2019. Climate initiatives are also being taken in cities. In Paris, the authorities invested in planting trees and expanding city parks, and in Bratislava, additional water reservoirs and rain-watered gardens were created.

Researchers estimate that global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius could cause up to 30,000 additional deaths in Europe per year due to extreme heat.

The report on the state of the climate in Europe was published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the EU's Copernicus satellite program, led by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts at the European Commission. Almost a hundred scientists worked on this year's report.

From Brussels, Jowita Kiwnik Pargana (PAP)

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