2024 European Climate Report Highlights Escalating Trends, Say C3S and WMO
Globally, 2024 was the warmest year on record, following on from the remarkable warmth of 2023. The last 10 years have been the warmest ten years on record. The annual average sea surface temperature over the non-polar ocean also reached a record high.
Atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase.
Since the 1980s, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average, making it the fastest-warming continent on Earth.
Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and severe, and southern Europe is seeing widespread droughts. Glaciers in all European regions continue to melt. Changes in the pattern of precipitation, including an increase in the intensity of the most extreme events, have been observed. This can lead to increased flooding and likely contributed to some of the most catastrophic events seen in 2024.