New data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union reveal that 2022 was a year of climate extremes, with record-high temperatures and increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

The year 2022 was the second warmest in recent history for Europe. Only 2020 was even warmer. The temperature did not reach absolute top levels last year, but 2022 was far from an ordinary year in terms of weather.

Europe just experienced its warmest October since the beginning of the registrations, with temperatures of almost 2°C above the 1991-2020 reference period.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Europe is warming up twice as fast as the rest of the world. Between 1991 and 2021, temperatures in Europe increased by 0,5°C per decade.

Extreme events

2022 was again marked by a series of extreme events, illustrating the consequences of global warming. Europe faced intense heat waves and severe drought, and the summer months of 2022 were the warmest ever measured on the European continent.

In Great Britain, all records were broken. France, Spain, and Portugal experienced an extreme precipitation deficit. In these countries and Switzerland, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2022 was ranked as the warmest year since the beginning of the measurements.

Global warming

The global temperature is now 1,2°C higher than in the period between 1850 and 1900. The higher temperatures result from increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere. Despite all international plans to reduce emissions, the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) also increased in 2022.

Global warming also has significant consequences outside Europe. According to Copernicus, the sea ice around Antarctica was at its lowest in early 2022. The ice mass was never smaller in the 44 years of satellite monitoring.

New records

Due to extreme rainfall, Pakistan and northern India were hit by prolonged heat waves in the spring and major flooding in August. Heat waves also distressed central and eastern China in the summer.

The last eight years have been the warmest ever globally – they were always more than one degree warmer than pre-industrial temperatures. Also, new year records were broken in the Middle East, Central Asia, China, New Zealand, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa.