EU climate report finds Europe's summer heat was worst on record, warns of grim outlook

A new report from the European Union's Copernicus climate monitoring service has found that the heat that persistently affected western Europe this summer was the worst on record, according to The Guardian.

Surface air temperatures in western Europe from June to August were 2.5 degrees Celsius above the recent decadal average, the report found, with more than half the continent experiencing what was described as "very strong" heat stress, felt as hotter than 38 degrees Celsius.

A summer among the hottest on record

Milder but still deadly heat across the rest of the continent contributed to making the overall summer Europe's third hottest on record, according to the Copernicus update.

The report linked the extreme heat to a range of consequences, including heat-related deaths and damage to agricultural harvests, though specific figures for fatalities or crop losses in this report were not detailed in the available summary.

Scientists have repeatedly linked the increasing frequency and intensity of European heatwaves to human-caused climate change, warning that such conditions are likely to become more common in future summers.

The Copernicus service, which has tracked European and global temperatures for years, is expected to continue monitoring conditions as part of its regular climate reporting.