The report by the Copernicus Climate Change Monitoring Service, indicates that the year 2022 was the second hottest in Europe since records began, being 0.9 degrees celsius (ºC) above average, and the summer was the hottest ever, with 1.4ºC above average.

“Europe experienced the hottest summer on record, compounded by several extreme events, such as intense heat waves, drought conditions and extensive forest fires”, the document specifies.

According to Copernicus, most of Western Europe experienced heat waves and temperatures in the UK exceeded 40°C for the first time, in addition to the highest values of average surface temperature in European seas.

Warning

The report "State of the European Climate 2022" warns of the consequences that the extreme heat recorded in late spring and summer had on human health, stressing that southern Europe experienced a record number of days with "very strong heat stress" due to extreme heat waves during the summer.

The European Earth observation service also maintains that Europe is witnessing an upward trend in the number of summer days with "strong " or "very strong" heat stress and in southern Europe there is already "extreme heat stress".