2023 was the year of extreme weather in Europe

“2023 was a complex and multifaceted year when it comes to climate threats in Europe,” said Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). “We witnessed widespread flooding, but also extreme forest fires with high temperatures and severe droughts.” These events not only put pressure on natural ecosystems, but also posed major challenges for agriculture, water management and public health. Overall, depending on the data set, last year was the second warmest or, together with 2020, the warmest year in Europe.

Damage in the tens of billions
According to the State of the Climate in Europe (ESOTC) report published on Monday, around 1.6 million people were affected by floods last year and more than half a million were affected by storms. The weather and climate-related damage is estimated at more than 10 billion euros. “Unfortunately, these numbers are unlikely to decline in the near future,” Buontempo said, citing ongoing climate change.

Heat broke all records
On average across Europe, eleven months were warmer than average last year. September was even the warmest since measurements began in 1940. In total, a record number of days with so-called extreme heat stress were recorded, i.e. temperatures that felt like they were above 46 degrees. The number of heat-related deaths has increased by an average of 30 percent over the past twenty years.

Even when it rains, extremes can be seen
In total, seven percent more rain fell than average last year. It was one of the wettest years to date, the report said. Water volumes exceeding the flood threshold were recorded in a third of Europe’s river network. There were serious floods in Italy and Greece, among others, and parts of northern Germany were affected at the end of the year.

Seas too warm, glaciers melting
On average, the seas around Europe’s coasts have been warmer than ever since at least 1980. It was also much too hot on the glaciers. “After the record ice loss in 2022, it was another extraordinary year with losses in the Alps,” write Copernicus and WMO. In these two years, the glaciers in the Alps lost about ten percent of their volume.

On the positive side, conditions for the production of green electricity in 2023 were very favorable, according to the report: its share in the total electricity mix was higher than ever before;