Europe is facing more excruciating heatwaves caused by climate change, with the temperature average 2.3° hotter last year than in pre-industrial times, and rising faster than on any other continent.
The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service predict that Europe will increasingly suffer extreme heat, crop-withering droughts, record sea-surface temperatures, and unprecedented glacier melt over the coming years.
Europe has been warming twice the global average since the 1980s, and saw its warmest summer on record last year, with countries including France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom experiencing their warmest years on record. Severe heat left more than 16,000 people dead last year, the report said, while floods and storms accounted for most of the $2 billion in damages from weather and climate extremes.
The aerial picture above, taken 9/13/22 13, shows the Tsanfleuron pass free of the ice that covered it for at least 2,000 years. Blankets cover snow from last winter to prevent it from melting.
