Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, outpacing all others

Europe is sweltering through a punishing heatwave this week, with temperatures surging to levels rarely seen this early in the year. The continent is heating faster than any other on Earth, and its reach into the rapidly warming Arctic is helping drive the trend.

Record May temperatures were shattered in Ireland, France and the UK on Monday and yesterday, and forecasters say the intense heat is far from over as even hotter conditions loom in the days ahead.

At the center of the episode is a so-called “heat dome” — a mass of hot air that drifted north from Africa and became trapped beneath a high-pressure system over western Europe, bringing temperatures more typical of midsummer than late spring.

Here is a closer look at why Europe is warming faster than much of the rest of the world:

The planet is now about 1.4C warmer than it was in preindustrial times, the period defined as 1850-1900.

Europe, by contrast, is roughly 2.4C hotter than it was before the industrial era, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

“Almost all of this heat is driven by the human-induced greenhouse effect from fossil fuel emissions, with the actual distribution of this excess heat determined by (several) factors,” said Ben Clarke, a researcher in extreme weather and climate change at Imperial College London.

Changing weather patterns

Copernicus says shifts in atmospheric circulation have made summer heatwaves across Europe both more common and more intense.

Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, said high-pressure systems — which typically bring settled skies and rising temperatures — are appearing more often over Europe.

“If you look over the last 20, 30 years, there has been a prevalence, especially in summer, of those sort of anticyclonic conditions that are making heatwaves more likely,” Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said.

Tourists fend off the sun with hats and umbrellas near the Spanish Steps in Rome

Mr Buontempo said scientists are still debating whether the growing frequency of that particular kind of high-pressure system is linked directly to climate change or reflects a “statistical fluctuation.”

These systems are also known as “blocking highs” because they can stall in place, preventing other weather fronts from moving into an area.

Mary Bourke, a geography professor at Trinity College Dublin, described the mechanics behind them.

“The sky is exposed to us, there are no clouds. It’s a stable mass of air that is bringing warm air down to the surface and taking away moist air, so the air is not only warm, but it’s also dry.”

Rapidly warming Arctic

Geography is another major part of the story.

“Europe is connected to the Arctic, which is warming much faster than the rest of the planet,” Mr Clarke said.

According to Copernicus, the Arctic is now 3.2C warmer than it was in preindustrial times.

One reason is a self-reinforcing cycle known as the albedo feedback.

Changes in atmospheric circulation have made heatwaves more frequent and more intense

Snow and ice, with their bright surfaces, reflect large amounts of the sun’s energy back into space. But when they melt, they expose darker land and ocean, which absorb far more heat.

“So as sea ice melts it leads to greater absorption of heat, which in turn further warms waters and melts more ice,” Mr Clarke said.

Melting snow

Elsewhere in Europe, Mr Buontempo said the areas that once saw frequent winter snow cover have been shrinking.

“We have many of the historical regions that had a week or more of freezing condition now, not having that. And this means exposing dark land rather than white snow,” he said.

Falling air pollution

Tighter air quality rules have cut aerosol emissions since the 1980s.

But reducing those pollutants has also had an unintended warming effect, because the tiny airborne particles help cool the planet by bouncing sunlight back and making clouds brighter and more reflective.

“While a reduction in air pollution is hugely important for respiratory health, it also increases the solar radiation at the surface, as many types of particulate matter deflect sunlight,” Mr Clarke said.

Varying degrees

The pace of warming is not uniform across the continent.

According to Copernicus, eastern and southeastern Europe, along with parts of central Europe including the Alps, have warmed by 0.5C-1C per decade over the past 30 years.

Western and southwestern Europe, as well as sub-Arctic parts of Finland, Norway and Sweden, have warmed by 0.2C-0.5C per decade.

Last summer ranked as the fourth warmest on record for Svalbard

Svalbard, the Norwegian Arctic archipelago known for its polar bears, has experienced warming of 1.5C-2C per decade.

Among the fastest-warming places on the planet, Svalbard recorded its highest summer temperatures from 2022 to 2024. Last year, it logged its fourth warmest summer on record.