This spring, Europe is suffering from record-breaking and life-threatening heat waves. Why is it so hot on the Old Continent and what are the forecasts?
Large parts of Western Europe have been gripped by a heat wave this spring. Unusually high temperatures are being observed from the United Kingdom in the north, through Germany and France, all the way to Spain and Italy in the south.
The reason for this unusually hot weather for the season is the so-called "heat dome". Like a lid on a boiling pot, a high-pressure front from North Africa is trapping the hot air over Europe in the atmosphere. Because it moves very slowly, this weather pattern is persisting.
According to data from the EU's Copernicus program, such weather systems in Europe have increased in the past 25 years, leading to more frequent and more extreme heat waves.
Europe is warming twice as fast
"Such temperatures were previously considered high even in the height of summer," said Professor Friederike Otto of Imperial College London. She said the record heatwave bore the hallmarks of climate change, but it was too early to say to what extent this latest extreme heat event was fueled by the greenhouse effect from fossil fuel emissions, Otto added.
The climate scientist professor is co-founder of the UK-based World Weather Attribution – an organization that has been studying heat waves in Europe since 2003. Its data shows that extreme weather events are "much more likely and intense" due to human-caused climate change.
In 2025, 95 percent of Europe experienced above-average temperatures, according to a report on the state of the European climate published in April. Severe heat waves with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius were felt as far as the Arctic Circle. And the ocean surface temperature was "the highest since records began".
"Europe is the continent that is warming the fastest, and the consequences are already serious," says Florian Papenberger, director of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, one of the agencies behind the report.
In fact, Europe is warming almost twice as fast as the global average. The average temperature on the Old Continent has risen by 2.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels since the end of the 19th century. Globally, analysts have found an average increase in temperatures of 1.4 degrees Celsius.
This accelerated warming is also due to the continent's location. Europe is connected to the Arctic, the only region in the world that is warming even faster.
According to the "Copernicus" programme, average temperatures near the North Pole are more than 3.3 degrees Celsius higher than at the beginning of industrialisation.
While the bright ice at the pole reflects sunlight, the ice-free sea, being darker, absorbs most of it. This process is known as the albedo effect (the lighter a surface is, the less it warms). This effect is also observed in Europe.
Parts of the continent that used to be frozen all year round or until late summer, such as the high mountain regions of the Alps, are now increasingly snow-free. As darker soil reflects less solar radiation back into space, warming accelerates.
Variable winds, changing weather patterns
Scientists also link Europe's warming to changes in the jet stream - the high-altitude air stream that flows into Europe from the west. These winds, which were previously relatively stable, are also being disrupted by climate change. This leads to more extreme weather patterns that tend to last longer.
A 2022 study shows that the jet stream is now splitting into two arms, the so-called double jet stream - weather systems are drifting northwards and prolonged heat waves may develop over Western Europe.
Is clean air warming the planet?
It sounds paradoxical, but it seems that successful efforts to solve another environmental problem - dirty air - have also contributed to increased warming in Europe. For example, the European report on the state of the climate in 2025 reports that stricter air quality standards introduced in the 1980s have led to a decrease in air pollution. At the same time, however, they are one of the reasons for higher temperatures.
Before the air became cleaner, tiny reflective sulfate and nitrate particles from car exhaust and factory chimneys contributed indirectly to the continent's cooling. They reflected sunlight and thus "partially offset the warming caused by the increase in greenhouse gases".
However, according to climate scientists, this in no way means that the world should stop making efforts to reduce harmful emissions.
The need to limit warming is also emphasized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations (UN) and the British Meteorological Office. They predict record average global temperatures in the next five years and believe that it is very likely that the world will experience the hottest year on record in 2031.
Against this background, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for limiting the rise in temperatures. Last week, the UN backed a "rapid, just and balanced transition" from fossil fuels to clean energy. The rapid expansion of renewable energy sources since 2000 has already shifted warming trends away from the worst-case scenario.