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…

Europe is heating up faster than any other continent, according to the European State of the Climate Report for 2025, which describes a region being reshaped by accelerating change. Across the Mediterranean, the Alps and up to the Arctic Circle, the shifts are no longer faint, slow-moving or far off on the horizon. The fallout is rippling through Europe’s environment, its economy and the ecosystems that support both. Hotter air, warming seas, vanishing ice, parched soils and ecosystems under strain are sending unmistakable…