Europe’s summer of floods and fire was its hottest on record

 They are the main findings of the fifth European State of the Climate report, published Friday, which found the summer of 2021 was 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than the 1991-2020 average.

The average air temperature in Europe has risen about 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the report.

The continent set a provisional, blistering new heat record last summer of 48.8 degrees Celsius on the Italian island of Sicily. Previously, the hottest day recorded in Europe was 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in 1977 in Athens, Greece, according to the report by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Parts of the Mediterranean were hit with an intense, weeks-long heat wave in July and August, with Italy, Turkey and Greece experiencing several destructive wildfires. More than 800,000 hectares were burned during those two months.

“With the changing climate, temperatures are getting warmer and warmer in the Mediterranean region, so it’s not unexpected to get these even higher temperatures,” said Freja Vamborg, a Copernicus senior scientist, who led and edited the report. “There is preconditioning due to climate change.”

She added that at the time, there were “blocking” weather patterns present, which is when areas of strong high pressure remain almost stagnant and block cooler, wetter weather from moving in.

These impacts are unsurprising, said Vamborg, considering the continued emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, which are both generated primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.

The atmospheric concentration of methane – a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of CO2 in the short term – is picking up pace. It has increased at a faster rate over the past two years than it has over the last decade, the report shows.

Methane emissions come from a number of sources, including coal, oil and gas infrastructure, from which it can “leak” into the atmosphere throughout the supply chain.

“This continued increase in greenhouse gases is the main driver behind the global increase in temperatures,” Vamborg told reporters.

The report also noted that floods on July 14, which killed more than 230 people, came on a day of record rainfall in the mountains on the German-Belgian border. Heavy rains since the beginning of July had saturated the soil, leaving it unable to absorb more water. A study by the World Weather Attribution project found that climate change had made those floods up to nine times more likely to happen.