EU Copernicus report shows surface air temperatures from June to August were 2.5C above decadal average

EU Copernicus report shows surface air temperatures from June to August were 2.5C above decadal average

The scorching heat that persistently baked western Europe this summer was the worst on record, a report has found, with more than half the continent seared by “very strong” heat stress that felt hotter than 38C. Surface air temperatures in western Europe from June to August were 2.5C above the recent decadal average, according to an update from the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service on Friday, while milder but still deadly heat across the rest of the continent made the summer Europe’s third hottest on record. The finding comes as a swelling El Niño of unprecedented strength raises global temperatures and supercharges violent weather from South America to Australia. The natural sea warming pattern, which has broken the temperature record months before its expected peak at the end of the year, is expected to cause almost half a million extra heat-related deaths by February. In Europe, where El Niño’s effects are felt mostly indirectly – for instance, through higher food prices and inflation – the intense heat experienced this summer is the result of fossil fuel pollution clogging the atmosphere. The report found at least 60% of western Europe suffered through temperatures above 30C on 17 days this summer. In...

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