Warmest year ever recorded

2019 was Europe’s warmest year ever recorded

Heatwaves across Europe last summer led to record-breaking temperatures in countries including France and Germany.

By JOSHUA POSANER and KALINA OROSCHAKOFF

Last year was the warmest on record in Europe, with central and eastern regions seeing the hottest temperatures, according to a new report out Wednesday.

The Copernicus European State of the Climate 2019 report comes on Earth Day, which started in 1970 to protest environmental destruction from oil spills, smog and polluted rivers.

Heatwaves across Europe last summer led to record-breaking temperatures in countries including France and Germany, often peaking above 40 degrees Celsius.

The report shows 11 of the 12 warmest years in a dataset running back to 1981 have taken place since 2000; unusually warm weather in February, June and July last year pushed 2019 ahead of previous highs in 2014, 2015 and 2018.

While annual rainfall was roughly at average for the full year due to downpours in November, the data shows soil moisture was the second lowest for 40 years. There were summer droughts across much of Central Europe.

The report said Greenland saw record summer ice melt, blamed on below-average snowfall and an earlier than expected spring.

The EU-funded Copernicus program uses satellites to monitor atmospheric and climate readings from space. A new mission, Sentinel-6, will launch in November with two satellites to monitor rising ocean levels caused by climate change.