Western Europe recorded its hottest June ever observed.
According to Reuters on the 10th, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the EU's climate monitoring body, reported in its monthly bulletin that Western Europe's average temperature last month reached 20.74 degrees Celsius.
The figure was more than 3 degrees higher than the 1991-2020 30-year average, marking the highest June temperature on record. The previous record was 20.49 degrees last year. As Western Europe's June average temperature record was broken for a second consecutive year, concerns have emerged that June heatwaves may be becoming routine.
The direct cause of the heatwave was hot air flowing in from North Africa and a heat dome that formed over the Atlantic. Across Western Europe, including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Germany, temperatures exceeded 40 degrees for more than a week from the 20th to the 28th of last month. Power supply was disrupted, and schools with inadequate cooling facilities closed. During this period, the heatwave was also cited as a major cause of wildfires and worsening drought that spread in Spain and France.
The London Underground was also hit hard. According to British media on the 7th, the floor temperature in Piccadilly line carriages reached 40 degrees at one point during the heatwave. Deep-level lines (subways built far underground), which account for about 60% of the entire network, had no air-conditioned trains at all, revealing a structure vulnerable to heatwaves.
In Munich, Germany, an unusual scene was captured of citizens in swimwear gathered at a bus stop near the English Garden. Citizens who had finished swimming in the Eisbach stream within the English Garden also boarded trams in their swimwear.
Deaths mounted as well. Excess deaths (deaths exceeding usual mortality levels) that occurred in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands during the heatwave totaled 4,700. Extended to all of Western Europe, the heatwave death toll is estimated to be far higher.
"The past month showed how fundamentally the Earth's climate is changing," warned Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). "Heatwaves are becoming more intense, oceans are continuously warming, and the risks facing people, ecosystems and infrastructure in Europe and elsewhere are also growing."
C3S said that the global sea surface temperature last month also recorded its highest June level on record. However, El Niño had little effect on the European heatwave, and post-event research confirmed that climate change played a decisive role in worsening the heatwave, Reuters reported.
