It is a gloomy message presented in the EU’s climate program Copernicus’s annual climate report, which was published on Thursday.
Some of the key findings in the reportwhich describes the most important climate events in 2022 in Europe, are:
- Europe had its hottest summer ever.
- Europe experienced its second warmest year on record.
- Large parts of Europe suffered intense and prolonged heat waves.
- Little rainfall and high temperatures led to widespread drought.
- Carbon emissions from summer fires were the highest in 15 years.
- The European Alps experienced a record loss of ice from glaciers.
– The report points out disturbing changes in our climate, including the hottest summer ever recorded in Europe, says Carlo Buontempo, who is director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Sounding the alarm about a record summer
Less snow
There was also less snow than normal in the winter of 2021-2022.
Many areas experienced up to 30 fewer snow days than average, and the drought persisted throughout the spring and summer, which not least affected agriculture with destroyed crops as a result.
According to the report, the lack of winter snow and the high summer temperatures resulted in a record loss of ice from glaciers in the Alps, corresponding to a loss of more than 5 square kilometers of ice.
– Drastic changes
In the recent report, it is further stated that the Svalbard region also experienced its hottest summer. The average summer temperature in some areas was more than 2.5 degrees above the average values.
Greenland experienced record ice melting during exceptional heat waves in September, and the Arctic experienced the sixth warmest year on record since records began.
– The Arctic region is experiencing drastic changes in the climate. The temperatures over the Arctic have risen much faster than those over most of the rest of the globe, writes the EU’s climate monitoring service.
Can be strong
– Big consequences
Globally, the past eight years have been the warmest on record, and temperatures in Europe are rising twice as fast as the global average, according to the report.
In Europe, last year’s summer was 1.4 degrees above average.
– Although the heat waves are more noticeable in southern Europe, the temperature increases have major consequences for us in the Nordics as well, says the Swedish climate researcher Gustav Strandberg to the TT news agency.
– Dangerous conditions
Extreme heat in late spring and summer resulted in dangerous conditions for human health, says the recent report.
Due to the extreme heat waves in the summer, according to the report, Southern Europe experienced a record number of days of “very strong heat stress”.
Heat stress indices represent the effect of the environment on the human body.
