It’s late spring, traditionally the time of year for bright weather as we head into summer. Sadly we have to focus on what is behind the weather, yes the bigger picture for which we thank the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for the exact picture of what is going on.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet with 2024 the warmest year on record. Storms were often severe and flooding widespread, claiming at least 335 lives and affecting an estimated 413,000 people. The European State of the Climate 2024 report provides 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. 

Key weather facts are:

• 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.

• Rainfall: Western Europe saw one of the ten wettest years in the analysed period since 1950.

• Flooding: Europe experienced the most widespread flooding since 2013.

• Heat stress: The numbers of days with ‘strong’, ‘very strong’ and ‘extreme heat stress’ were all the second highest on record. 

• 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.

“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,” says Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

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. 

Shrinking glaciers: Central Europe is one of the regions in the World where glaciers are shrinking the fastest. 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.