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European State of the Climate: Striking East-West Contrast & Widespread Flooding in Europe’s Warmest Year
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Last Updated on: 28th April 2025, 06:46 pm
Thank you, Copernicus, Climate Change Service, EU Commission, for the following update.
Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and the impacts of climate change here are clear. 2024 was the warmest year on record for Europe, with record temperatures in central, eastern and southeastern regions. Storms were often severe and flooding widespread, claiming at least 335 lives and affecting an estimated 413,000 people. During the year, there was a striking east-west contrast in climate conditions, with extremely dry and often record-warm conditions i n the east, and warm but wet conditions in the west.
The European State of the Climate 2024 (ESOTC 2024) report, released on 15 April 2025 by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), involves around 100 scientific contributors providing holistic yet concise insights into Europe’s climate, including through resources such as a brand-new graphics gallery with 130 charts and infographics.
C3S is implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission. Since 2018, the service has released the ESOTC, a detailed analysis of Europe’s climate for the previous year, going beyond annual temperature with analyses of a wide range of climate variables, from heat and cold stress to sunshine duration and cloudiness, from wildfires to glaciers and much more.
Florence Rabier, Director-General at ECMWF: “Under the leadership of the European Commission, ECMWF has been implementing the Copernicus Climate Change Service for more than 10 years and introduced the European State of the Climate report in 2018, which is a vital tool for monitoring climate change. We are pleased to have been publishing this report in collaboration with WMO since last year. The 2024 report reveals that almost one third of the river network exceeded the high flood threshold, and heat stress continues to increase in Europe, highlighting the importance of building greater resilience. With 51% of European cities now having a dedicated climate adaptation plan, this underscores the value of our information, which is rooted in scientific excellence, to better support decision-making around climate adaptation.”
“This report highlights that Europe is the fastest-warming continent and is experiencing serious impacts from extreme weather and climate change. Every additional fraction of a degree of temperature rise matters because it accentuates the risks to our lives, to economies and to the planet. Adaptation is a must. WMO and its partners are therefore intensifying efforts to strengthen early warning systems and climate services to help decision-makers and society at large to be more resilient. We are making progress but need to go further and need to go faster, and we need to go together,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
“This joint C3S-WMO report is a milestone achievement, leveraging the best of the EU Earth observation assets and services from Copernicus and expert knowledge in the community. Copernicus is part of the EU’s investment in sovereign climate data in support of climate mitigation and adaptation in Europe,” said Elisabeth Hamdouch, Deputy Head Earth Observation, European Commission.
- Temperature: 2024 was the warmest year for Europe, with record-high annual temperatures in almost half of the continent.
- Sea Surface Temperature (SST): For the year as a whole, SST for the European region was the highest on record, at 0.7°C above average, and for the Mediterranean Sea, at 1.2°C above average.
- Rainfall: There was a distinct east-west contrast in precipitation conditions. Western Europe saw one of the ten wettest years in the analysed period since 1950.
- Flooding: Europe experienced the most widespread flooding since 2013. Almost one third of the river network saw flooding that exceeded at least the ‘high’ flood threshold. Storms and flooding affected an estimated 413,000 people in Europe, with at least 335 lives lost.
- Heat stress: The numbers of days with ‘strong’, ‘very strong’ and ‘extreme heat stress’ were all the second highest on record. 60% of Europe saw more days than average with at least ‘strong heat stress’.
- Renewable energy: The proportion of electricity generation by renewables in Europe reached a record high in 2024, at 45%
- Cold extremes: The area of European land that experienced fewer than three months (90 days) of frost days was the largest on record (~69%, the average is 50%).
- Cold stress: There was a record low number of days with at least ‘strong cold stress’.
- Glaciers: All European regions saw a loss of ice; glaciers in Scandinavia and Svalbard saw their highest rates of mass loss on record.
- Wildfires: In September, fires in Portugal burned around 110,000 ha (1100 km2) in one week, representing around a quarter of Europe’s total annual burnt area. An estimated 42,000 people were affected by wildfires in Europe.
“2024 was the warmest year on record for Europe. We observed the longest heatwave in southeastern Europe and record glacier mass loss in Scandinavia and Svalbard. But 2024 was also a year of marked climate contrasts between eastern and western Europe. The European State of the Climate is a treasure trove of quality information about our changing climate. Learning how to use climate data and information to inform our decisions should become a priority for all of us,” mentioned Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at ECMWF.
Widespread flooding, extreme heat and drought in eastern Europe
Spotlight topics for the ESOTC 2024 include an overview of flooding in Europe, with a focus on the extreme events in central and eastern Europe associated with Storm Boris, and those in Valencia, Spain, as well as the extreme heat and drought in southeastern Europe during the summer.
30% of the European river network exceeded the ‘high’ flood threshold during the year, while 12% exceeded the ‘severe’ flood threshold. In September, Storm Boris affected hundreds of thousands of people, with flooding, fatalities and damage in parts of Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Italy.
At the end of October, Spain saw extreme precipitation and flooding leading to devastating impacts and fatalities in the province of Valencia and neighbouring regions.
Southeastern Europe experienced its longest heatwave on record in July 2024, lasting 13 consecutive days and affecting 55% of the region. There were record-breaking numbers of days with at least ‘strong heat stress’ (66) and tropical nights (23) in southeastern Europe during summer.
For the first time, these spotlight sections also provide information on trends in flooding, and extreme heat and drought in Europe, summarising key findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For example, Europe is one of the regions with the largest projected increase in flood risk, and a global warming of 1.5ºC could result in 30,000 annual deaths in Europe due to extreme heat.
Climate policy and action
This year, the interactive map of key events also features a new layer highlighting examples of climate resilience and adaptation initiatives in cities across Europe.
51% of European cities have adopted dedicated climate adaptation plans, representing encouraging progress from 26% in 2018, according to the climate policy and action section of the report, highlighting that continued efforts will unlock even greater potential to adapt to climate challenges effectively. Extreme weather events pose increasing risks to Europe’s built environment and infrastructure and the services they support.
Striking climate contrasts
In 2024, people living in different parts of Europe experienced very different weather and climate with a distinct east-west contrast of dry, sunny and extremely warm conditions in the east and cloudier, wetter and less warm conditions in the west.
(Left) Annual sunshine duration anomalies (%) for Europe for 1983–2024, showing positive (orange) and negative (grey) anomalies. The anomalies are for land areas only and expressed as a percentage of the average. (Right) Sunshine duration anomalies (hours) over Europe for 2024, showing positive (shades of orange) and negative (shades of grey) anomalies. Grey hatching in the top right corner of the map indicates missing data. All anomalies are relative to the average for the 1991–2020 reference period. Data: CM SAF SARAH-3 CDR and ICDR. Credit: C3S/ECMWF/DWD/EUMETSAT.
This east-west contrast was apparent in many climate variables, such as temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, clouds, sunshine duration, solar radiation and potential for solar power generation. Consequently, the contrast was also reflected in terms of the European river network, with widespread higher-than-average river flows in western Europe and lower-than-average flows in eastern Europe.
 Anomalies and extremes in annual average river flow in 2024. Reference: extremes 1992-2024, anomalies 1992– 2020. Data: EFAS. Credit: CEMS/C3S/ECMWF.
Renewable energy progress
The proportion of electricity generation by renewables in Europe reached a record high in 2024, at 45%, compared to the previous record of 43% in 2023, reflecting Europe’s efforts towards a decarbonised energy system. The number of EU countries where renewables generate more electricity than fossil fuels has nearly doubled since 2019, rising from 12 to 20, according to reports.
Percentage of the total actual annual electricity generation for Europe, from solar (yellow), wind (purple) and hydro (blue) power, for 2016–2024. Data: ENTSO-E and Elexon. Credit: C3S/ECMWF.
Renewable power generation and electricity demand are highly sensitive to weather conditions, and the climate-driven potential for power generation from solar photovoltaic reflected the contrasting east (sunnier) and west (cloudier) conditions.
Increasing heat stress, day and night
Heat stress days and tropical nights are increasing in Europe — 2024 saw the second-highest number of heat stress days and tropical nights on record; averaged over Europe, this meant nearly a month of at least ‘strong heat stress’ and around 12 tropical nights, with variations across the continent and southeastern Europe in particular seeing record-breaking numbers of both. Heat can put the body under stress, influenced not only by temperature but also by other environmental factors such as wind and humidity. High nighttime temperatures can also affect health, offering little respite from daytime heat stress.
Annual average number of days with at least ‘strong’, ‘very strong’ or ‘extreme heat stress’ for WMO RA VI (Europe), from 1950–2024. The thresholds for ‘strong’, ‘very strong’ and ‘extreme heat stress’ are 32°C, 38°C and 46°C, respectively, based on the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). ‘Tropical nights’ are those during which the temperature does not fall below 20°C. Data: ERA5-HEAT, ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF.
Shrinking glaciers
The United Nations have declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. ESOTC 2024 data show that glaciers in all European regions saw a loss of ice. Central Europe is one of the regions in the world where glaciers are shrinking the fastest, and the report includes a compelling infographic representing how much glaciers in the Alps have changed since the 1970s.
Glaciers in Scandinavia and Svalbard in 2024 experienced their highest rates of mass loss on record and saw the largest annual mass loss of all glacier regions globally, with an average thickness loss of 1.8 m in Scandinavia and 2.7 m in Svalbard. It was the third warmest year on record for the Arctic as a whole and the fourth warmest for Arctic land.
For the third summer in a row, the average temperature in Svalbard reached a new record high. In recent decades, this area has been one of the fastest-warming places on Earth.
About Copernicus and ECMWFCopernicus is the Earth observation component of the European Union’s Space programme, looking at our planet and its environment to benefit all European citizens. The programme is coordinated and managed by the European Commission and implemented in partnership with the Member States and European organisations.
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is both a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing global numerical weather predictions and other data for our Member and Co-operating States and the broader community. It operates a world-class supercomputer facility for weather forecasting and holds one of the largest meteorological data archives.
ECMWF is a key player in Copernicus, the Earth Observation component of the European Union’s Space programme, by implementing quality-assured information on climate change (Copernicus Climate Change Service), atmospheric composition (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), and contributing to information on flooding and fire danger (Copernicus Emergency Management Service). Together with ESA and EUMETSAT, ECMWF also delivers the EU’s Destination Earth initiative, which is developing prototype digital twins of the Earth.
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About WMOWMO is the United Nations system’s authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.
As weather, climate and the water cycle know no national boundaries, international cooperation at a global scale is essential for the development of meteorology and operational hydrology as well as to reap the benefits from their application. WMO provides the framework for such international cooperation for its 193 Member States and Territories.
WMO’s mandate relates to the areas of meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. WMO has a powerful role in contributing to the safety and welfare of humanity by fostering collaboration between its Members’ National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and advancing the application of meteorology and hydrology in many societal and economic areas.
WMO regulates and facilitates free and unrestricted exchange of data and information, products, and services in real- or near-real time. This is critical for applications relating to the safety and security of society, social and economic welfare, and the protection of the environment. WMO standards and policies contribute to policy formulation in these areas at national and regional levels. The Organization plays a leading role in international efforts to monitor and protect the climate and the environment. In collaboration with other UN agencies and NMHSs, WMO supports the implementation of UNFCCC and a number of environmental conventions and is instrumental in providing advice and assessments to governments on related matters. These activities contribute towards ensuring the sustainable development and well-being of nations.
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Courtesy of Copernicus, Climate Change Service, EU Commission
https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/28/european-state-of-the-climate-striking-east-west-contrast-widespread-flooding-in-europes-warmest-year/ |
