WMO climate report: warmest year and record rainfall in Europe in 2024

Europe was extremely wet and dry at the same time in 2024 Keystone-SDA

Europe faced a stark east-west climate divide last year: it was too wet in the west and too dry in the east, according to a new report.

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At the same time, it was too hot in a large part of the centre of the continent. This is according to the European State of the Climate 2024 report, a joint study by the EU Copernicus programme’s climate change service and the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

According to the report, at least 335 people lost their lives in severe storms and floods, and 413,000 suffered the consequences.

It was already clear that the European continent and the entire world experienced the highest average temperature since records began in 2024. According to WMO, the global temperature in 2024 was 1.55 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level (1850-1900). In Europe it was +2.92C, Copernicus reported. Record heat was recorded in central, eastern and south-Eastern Europe in 2024.

Why Europe is warming the fastest

Europe is the continent that is warming the fastest. Copernicus cites several reasons: the high proportion of land in the Arctic which is warming faster than any other region on Earth, the change in atmospheric circulation, which favours summer heatwaves, and the decline in aerosol emissions. These are tiny particles in the air that reflect sunlight and can thus prevent heat.

Copernicus and WMO highlighted an east-west divide with “dry, sunny and extremely warm conditions in the east, and cloudier, wetter and less warm conditions in the west”. Western Europe experienced one of the ten wettest years since 1950, with rivers carrying more water than the long-term average. In eastern Europe, on the other hand, they carried significantly less water due to extreme drought.

Tropical nights and floods

“Heat-stress days and tropical nights are increasing in Europe,” the report stated. Southeastern Europe experienced the longest heatwave (13 days) and a record number of tropical nights (23). The temperature did not fall below 20C at night. By comparison, in Germany, individual measuring stations such as Heidelberg usually measure a handful of tropical nights per year at most.

The European seas were also too warm: the average sea surface temperature was 0.7C higher overall than the long-term average, and in the Mediterranean it was even +1.2C .

Extreme rainfall and flooding were more pronounced than at any time since 2013. They led to the disaster in the Spanish province of Valencia and the surrounding area in October, with more than 200 deaths. In September, Storm Boris brought heavy rainfall and flooding to parts of Germany, as well as Poland, Austria, Hungary and neighbouring countries.

What needs to be done

Climate-damaging greenhouse gases from fossil fuels must be reduced, said Stefan Rahmstorf from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

“The growing share of renewable energies, which now accounts for 45% of our electricity, is encouraging. It is crucial for our future that we resist the short-sighted interests of the fossil fuel lobby and implement the European climate targets without delay,” he said.

“Every additional fraction of a degree in temperature rise matters because it increases the risks to our lives, our economy and our planet,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

Translated from German by DeepL/sb

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