The hottest summer ever recorded in Europe

On average, summer 2022 was the hottest ever recorded in Europe, reports Copernicus, the European Union's Earth Observation Programme, which, among other things, conducts environmental monitoring on a global scale. According to data published by the service, average temperatures in Europe between June and August were 0.4 °C higher than in 2018, when the previous record for the hottest summer was set.

The Copernicus report states that the month of August was the hottest and driest in Europe - and the third hottest globally - since records began, exceeding the previous record in 2018 by 0.8°C. Temperatures recorded in several European cities have been above average since mid-June, with peaks that usually aren't recorded until July onwards, when the highs of the summer season are usually expected across much of the continent.

«An intense series of heatwaves across Europe paired with unusually dry conditions, have led to a summer of extremes with records in terms of temperature, drought and fire activity in many parts of Europe», summarised Copernicus researcher Freja Vamborg.

Europe's summer heat is caused by an area of high pressure that spreads across the continent more than usual, formed of air that is heated by the sun and moves upwards from the ground. It's as though a wall of hot air is rising that blocks wind currents, reducing the likelihood of clouds or unstable weather, which can both cause temperatures to fall.

Because of this phenomenon, Italy has just experienced one of the hottest summers ever recorded in the country's history, with average summer temperatures showing a difference of at least 2°C between 1991 and 2020. In terms of record temperatures, summer 2022 is second only to the memorable summer of 2003, which much like this year was preceded by a prolonged drought (considered the worst in the last 500 years). In general, the average summer temperature in Italy is estimated to have risen by around 3°C from 1970 to present day.

But as well as peaks of extreme heat, «the continuity of the unusual heat was surprising», says the Italian Meteorological Society (SMI). Heatwaves caused by rising temperatures have not only grown in intensity, but also in frequency and duration: across much of Italy, more than half of the days in the summer season now see maximums in excess of 34 °C, with increasingly extreme storms alternated with periods of drought.

In July alone, the series of heatwaves in Italy in summer 2022 led to 29% excess deaths among the over 65s, with over 2,000 deaths in at least 33 Italian cities, according to Altreconomia.

While it is difficult to link individual meteorological events to long-term changes to the climate, most research groups point to global warming, caused largely by human activity, as the main reason for these phenomena. «There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters», said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. «They are the price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction».

Heatwaves are not only a threat to human health, but also to healthy ecosystems: among other things, they can lead to the deaths of both wild and domestic animals, and increase the likelihood of forest fires; when the vegetation is very dry, the fire spreads more quickly.

In Europe in 2022 alone, over 750,000 hectares of forest were burned - more than 7,500 square kilometres (an area slightly smaller than the Friuli Venezia Giulia region). This figure is double the average of burned land in the continent in the last 15 years.

One of the consequences of the increase in fires is the rise in greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for climate change. According to Copernicus, the fires in Europe between June and September led to emissions of 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide: the highest level since 2007, and the equivalent of the amount produced by the waste sector in a country such as Germany in one year.