2020 GOES DOWN AS EUROPE’S HOTTEST

LONDON: Europe had its hottest year on record by a large margin in 2020, with the average temperature almost 2C higher than the period from 1981 to 2010.

Many countries reported their highest annual average temperatures, including France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine. The UK had its third hottest year after 2014 and 2006, with the average temperature 0.78C above the 1981-2010 baseline. Across Europe the increase on the same baseline was 1.9C.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said this month humans were driving global warming and the effects already, including more heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels, would worsen without rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

The UK Met Office, which contributed to the annual climate report by the American Meteorological Society, said last year was about 0.5C warmer than the continent’s previous hottest year, 2015. Europe’s five warmest years have all occurred since 2014.

Globally, last year was one of the three warmest years in records dating back to 1850, up 0.6C on the 1981-2010 baseline. The average surface temperature over land in the Arctic was the highest since records began in 1900.