Summer 2022 is the hottest in the history of Europe: 1.34 ° C hotter than average
Copernicus scientists determined that summer 2022 was 0.4 ° C warmer than the previous record holder in 2021.
It was largely to be expected, but now the official confirmation has arrived thanks to scientific data: the estate 2022 was the warm ever recorded in the history of Europe. The previous record, relative to 2021, was beaten by 0,4° with a temperature of 1,34° C higher than the average of the reference period, that is the thirty years between 1991 and 2020.
After weeks of “hyper-extreme” heat due to the African anticyclone, accompanied by a severe drought and devastating fires that have devoured nearly half a million hectares of woods, it is no wonder that the new record has been achieved. What worries is the steadily deteriorating trend, due to climate changes catalyzed by emissions of greenhouse gases that we constantly pour into the atmosphere.
To announce that what we are experiencing is the hottest summer in the history of Europe were the scientists of Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and del Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), two services related to the satellite program co-managed by the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The data relating to the surface air temperature were collected from multiple stations located throughout the Old Continent. As indicated, between the beginning of June and the end of August the average temperature was 0.4 ° C warmer than that of the previous record (2021) and 1.34 ° C warmer than the average for the reference period. . The highest values were touched mainly in the south-western and north-eastern areas.
Among the most shocking records I 64 historical records of the maximums achieved in France, 47° C touched in July in Portugal and 40.3 ° C was recorded on the 19th in Coningsby (Lincolnshire) in England: It was the highest temperature ever reached in UK history, shattering the previous record of 38.7 ° C set in 2019. All this led to the most extreme drought ever experienced in Europe in 500 years now. And as indicated, with global warming steadily increasing, the consequences will continue to worsen – and plummet – over the next few decades.
Also, the month of August contributed significantly to reaching the record, despite the heat wave caused by the African anticyclone being concentrated mainly in July. According to data from the Copernicus program, August 2022 globally was warmer than 0,3° C compared to the average for the month in the reference period 1991-2020, moreover, it was 0,8° C hotter than in August 2018, holder of the previous record in Europe. These data highlight an alarming trend of the current climate crisis, the main threat facing humanity, but also to ecological balances and biodiversity. Even our civilization is in danger of succumbing to the disasters triggered by global warming.
