2020 was the hottest year in Europe on record

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The UK Met Office, which contributed to the report, said the record had been broken “by a considerable amount”. Last year, average temperatures in Europe were 1.9 degrees Celsius above the 1981-2010 average, a period used as a benchmark to measure temperature change.

The five warmest years in Europe have all been since 2014.

The findings were set out in the American Meteorological Society’s Climate State Report 31, which said 17 European countries recorded record annual temperatures, including France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway and Sweden.

In the Arctic, the average air temperature in 2020 was the highest recorded, 2.1 degrees above the 1981-2010 average. Antarctica also experienced extreme heat, with the Esperanza station reaching 18.3 degrees on February 6, 2020, the highest temperature on the continent and well above its previous record of 17.2 degrees. established in 2015.

Other parts of the world also experienced record high temperatures, including Japan, Mexico and the Seychelles.

Part of northwestern Europe was relatively cooler in 2020, according to the report, but the UK also reached the third highest average annual temperature, after 2014 and 2006, according to the Met Office.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic slowed economic activity around the world and led to a 6-7% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, the report found that the global concentration of greenhouse gases greenhouse rose to a new high in 2020.

“This report adds to all the other evidence that human-induced climate change affects all parts of the world, but not all regions experience change at the same rate,” said Robert Dunn, Met meteorological operator Office and lead editor of the global climate report chapter.

The report is presented as much of the northern hemisphere has faced extreme weather caused by climate change this summer in the form of heat waves and wildfires in Greece, Italy, Turkey and France, while Germany and Belgium experienced deadly floods in July.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service warned this month that the Mediterranean region was evolving towards a “point of fire” and warned that fires that were already burning emitted large amounts of smoke pollution into the atmosphere.

The United States and Canada have also fought persistent wildfires this summer

Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said the 2020 report “captures reality” and was “more evidence that our climate is changing.”

“Two degrees may not feel much for the average person on the streets; you may not notice a difference of two degrees if you go outside. But this small change in average temperatures has a significant change in frequency and the intensity of some weather events, particularly heat events “such as those happening in Europe and North America.

“These extreme heat events occur much more often, when they happen, they last longer,” Bentley said.

A London Underground passenger is trying to stay cool during a heat wave in August 2020.

Michael Byrne, professor of climate science at the University of St. Andrews told the Science Media Center that while it was no surprise that Europe was experiencing its hottest year, the pace of warming was “worrying”.

“The report shows that even if we limit global warming to 1.5 ° C as set out in the Paris Agreement, temperature rises in many parts of the world (and especially in the earth) will far exceed 1.5 ° C, “Byrne wrote.

A major United Nations report on climate change released earlier this month concluded that the global average temperature is already 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial levels and an effort should be made to prevent it from rising. beyond 1.5 degrees to prevent worsening impacts. The world scientists who wrote this report also concluded that humans unequivocally caused the climate crisis.

It was also found that if the world can contain reach zero zero, where the amount of greenhouse gas emissions does not exceed the amount removed, warming could be contained at 1.5 ° C.

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