Europe experienced the hottest year on record in 2024, as climate change combi
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ned with a strong El Niño to generate a series of extreme weather events and force glaciers into retreat.
Half the continent reported new heat records in 2024 and ocean temperatures in Europe were the highest ever recorded, scientists
at the Copernicus Climate Change Service and World Meteorological Organization said in their annual analysis of the continent’s climate.
Since the 1980s, Europe has warmed twice as fast as the global average, pushing national leaders to intensify their efforts to strength
en early warning systems against extreme weather, according to WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. The extra heat in the atm
osphere and ocean likely supercharged storms last year, bringing some of the worst flooding to Europe in more than a decade.
“Every fraction of a degree matters,” said Saulo. “It matters in terms of risks to our economies, disruptions to our society, damage to our ecosystems.”
Higher European temperatures — 1.47C above normal — led to record rates of glacier mass loss in Scandinavia and Svalbard, the scient
ists found. That followed another year of extreme temperatures across the continent in 2023.
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Powered by extra moisture in the atmosphere, Storm Boris brought three mon
hs of rain to parts of Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic in just four days in September. The deadly flooding overwhelmed the Danube, Elbe and Oder rivers, leading to wha
t Gallagher Re estimated to be $20 billion in total losses. Later in the year, a slow-moving system dumped torrential rainfall on Vale
cia, Spain, killing more than 200 people and causing $11 billion in total losses, according to an analysis by Munich RE.
Sunshine duration was 4% higher than normal across Europe in 2024; photo credit: Brais Lorenzo/Bloomberg
There was a sharp east-w
est divide in weather trends last year, scientists found. Countries in the east reported drier-than-normal conditions and southeast
ern Europe experienced 13 consecutive days of extreme heat in June, the longest heat wave on record.
That split also affected cloud cover and solar energy, scientists found.
