A record 52% of Europe was exposed to severe heat stress during the exceptionally hot summer the continent experienced this year, the EU Climate Observatory reported today.
Partly due to climate change, the old continent is warming at the fastest rate in the world and has endured nearly unrelenting heat waves that began unusually early, in the spring, breaking temperature records and causing tens of thousands of excess deaths.
Heat stress occurs when the body’s natural mechanisms for lowering its temperature are unable to cope, causing symptoms ranging from dizziness and headaches to even multiple organ failure and death.
“One of the most distinctive features of 2026 was that the heat was remarkable not only because of its intensity but also because of its geographic extent,” noted Samantha Berges, a climate researcher at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which manages the Copernicus program.
The one that just ended was the hottest ever recorded in Western Europe, featuring four of the ten most intense heat waves the continent has ever experienced, particularly in France, the United Kingdom, and Belgium, according to the agency.
The 2003 heat wave remains the worst, however, when considering both the duration and intensity of the events combined, Copernicus clarified.
Furthermore, in 2026, “there were 17 days during which at least 60% of Western Europe recorded temperatures higher than 30 ° Celsius, compared to 11 in 2003 and 7 in 2025.
This situation exposed 52% of Europeans to “very severe” heat stress, corresponding to a heat index above 38 °C, the agency noted.
About 80% of the continent experienced “severe” heat stress, with a perceived temperature exceeding 32 °C. These conditions were observed on a record number (41) of days during the season—five more than in 2023, a year marked by a historic heatwave.
“The summer of 2026 demonstrated the extent to which heat stress is becoming more widespread and persistent,” Ms. Berges explained, adding that it is the leading cause of weather-related mortality on a global scale.
This summer was also marked by dry conditions, with the lowest river flows ever recorded since records began in 1992, causing problems for freight transport and exacerbating tensions regarding irrigation, the cooling of nuclear reactors, and the operation of hydroelectric power plants, according to Copernicus. Droughts have been on the rise in Europe for the past 45 years.
Toward the end of August, nearly half of Europe was experiencing drought, Ms. Berges noted. Meanwhile, in Europe’s seas and oceans, “record surface temperatures— or near-record ones, were recorded along much of the Atlantic coastline as well as across much of the western and central Mediterranean,” accompanied by “strong and extreme” marine heatwaves.
This was “one of the defining characteristics of this summer: no single record was set,” “the alarming aspect was the way multiple records occurred simultaneously within the climate system,” summarized Samantha Berges.
Source: APE-MPE
