From June to August, Europe recorded the highest temperatures since measurements began. This was reported by the European Copernicus Service on Thursday. This year’s heat broke last year’s record. Average temperatures in August were 0.8 degrees Celsius higher than the previous highs measured last year and in 2018. The average temperature for the entire summer was 0.4 degrees higher than the current record.
June and July were already hot, especially in the southwestern part of the continent, but August temperatures were significantly warmer than in the period 1991-2020. But it was also above average in Eastern Europe. Additionally, August was significantly drier than average in parts of Eastern and Western Europe. Meanwhile, the southeastern part of the continent, Greece and Turkey, as well as parts of Scandinavia, experienced more precipitation than usual.
Copernicus agency Fréja Vanborg said that “unusual droughts, combined with a series of ferocious heat waves across Europe, resulted in a summer of extremes in terms of temperatures, droughts and wildfires.” .
Copernicus has been keeping records of temperature changes since 1979. But it also uses data from ground stations, weather balloons, airplanes and satellites acquired after 1950, the DPA agency reports.
Electricity production from the sun also reached record levels in the European Union this summer, the Ember Institute reported Thursday. In the period May to August, solar energy accounted for his 12% of the EU’s electricity mix, compared with 9% last year. On the 27th, the power from the sun was only slightly less than the power from coal. Instead of electricity generated by solar power plants, the European Union will have him buy 20 billion cubic meters of gas.
The Associated Press quoted the Ember Institute as saying, “The solar record set this summer will help the European Union shine brighter, curb gas consumption and provide short-term relief at a time when energy prices are soaring. The authors urged the government to set new solar capacity as part of an effort to cut Russia’s dependence on gas and as fossil fuel prices remain high for years. He called for the removal of barriers to
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