Records fall across Western Europe
Summer 2026 was the hottest ever recorded in Western Europe, according to a review published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service on October 2.
The average temperature for the season reached 21.7C. That is 2.5C above the 1991-2020 average and beats the previous high set in the summer of 2003. Across the whole continent, from Portugal to Ukraine, it was the third warmest summer on record.
The report found that a record 52% of Europe was exposed to very intense heat stress by the end of the season.
Drought, rivers and crops
Heat came with very low river flows. Low water slowed commercial navigation on key rivers in Western Europe, cutting the amount of goods barges could carry.
Crop yields fell, mainly because of water shortages. Dry conditions also fed large wildfires around the Mediterranean. Several countries reported deaths linked to the heat; Germany alone estimated about 16,000 heat-related deaths over the summer.
The UK Met Office said climate change made a summer like 2026 in the UK about 130 times more likely.
The heat has not stopped
A late-season heat dome pushed warm air north into early October. Temperatures reached the upper 20s to around 30C in northern Italy and parts of France, and above 35C in central and southern Spain and Portugal.
Forecasters expect the pattern to ease as autumn advances. Scientists note that this year's El Nino in the Pacific is adding to global heat and may keep raising the odds of warm extremes into 2027.