Much of Western Europe is suffering from an intense spring heat wave, with unusually hot temperatures from the UK and Ireland in the north to Germany and France and as far as Spain and Italy.
The unseasonable spring weather is the result of the “Heat Dome”. This strong, slow-moving high-pressure atmospheric system over North Africa is trapping warm air over Europe, much like a lid on a boiling pot of water. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, such weather systems have become more common in Europe over the past 25 years, leading to more frequent and extreme heat waves.
“Temperatures on this scale were once extraordinary, even at the height of summer,” Friederike Otto, professor of climate science at Imperial College London, said in a statement. “Climate change has scars on this record-breaking heat.”
Europe is warming twice as fast
It is too early to know how much this latest extreme heat event was influenced by the greenhouse effect from fossil fuel emissions.
But a previous analysis of more than half a dozen heat waves in Europe since 2003 Organized by climate scientists at the UK-based World Weather Attributionwhich Otto co-founded, shows that extreme weather was “much more likely and more intense due to human-induced climate change.”
latest European Climate Situation ReportReleased in April, it noted that at least 95% of the continent experienced above-average annual temperatures in 2025. Intense heat waves above 30 Celsius were felt as far north as the Arctic Circle, and sea surface temperatures were “the highest on record”.
“Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and the impacts are already severe,” said Florian Pappenberger, head of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, one of the agencies that produced the report.
In fact, Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average. Average temperatures have increased by 2.5 Celsius (4.3 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels in the late 19th century. Worldwide, analysts have pegged an average rise of 1.4 Celsius.
Why is this happening?
This rapid warming is due, in part, to the location. Europe is linked to the Arctic, the only place in the world that is warming even faster.
According to data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the average temperature rise around the North Pole has already exceeded 3.3 C. Partly because the deep, ice-free Arctic Ocean absorbs more sunlight than the ice reflects it.
That process, known as the albedo effect, is also underway across Europe. Areas of the continent that were once frozen year-round or in late summer, such as the high altitude areas of the Alps, are now becoming increasingly ice-free. Darker lands are reflecting less solar radiation back into space, causing increased temperatures.
Wavering winds are changing the weather patterns
Scientists have also linked the temperature rise in Europe to the changing winds of the jet stream, a river of high-altitude air flowing towards Europe from the west. The once relatively stable winds have also been disrupted by climate change, causing weather patterns to become more extreme, lasting longer.
A 2022 study led by Effie RouseyA postdoctoral researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany found that the duration of the jet stream splitting into two branches also increased. This results in extreme heat waves across Europe – especially in the west.
“In this region, which coincides with the exit of the storm track coming from the North Atlantic towards Europe, weather systems generally originate from the Atlantic and therefore have a cooling effect,” Roussey said in a statement at the time. “During double jet states weather systems turn north and persistent heat waves may develop over Western Europe.”
Clean air is warming the planet
Paradoxically, efforts to tackle another environmental problem appear to have contributed to increased warming in Europe. The 2025 European State of the Climate report notes that strict air quality regulations have reduced air pollution since the 1980s but are now responsible for warmer temperatures.
Before clean air rules were put in place, tiny, airborne reflective sulphate and nitrate particles from car exhaust and factory smoke indirectly helped cool the continent by reflecting sunlight, and “partially mitigated the warming caused by increased greenhouse gases.”
However, climate scientists have stressed that this does not mean the world should abandon efforts to reduce emissions.
The need to keep warming to a minimum was highlighted new report From the United Nations World Meteorological Agency and the UK Met Office. The study projects record average global temperature levels over the next five years, and says it is “likely” the world will see a new hottest year before 2031.
“The work ahead is clear,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this month. He called for efforts to reduce temperature rise “to create a safer, fairer and more resilient future for all”.
Last week, the United Nations voted to continue supporting a “rapid, just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.” Meanwhile, rapid use of renewable energy since 2000 has already reversed the worst of the warming trend.
Edited by: Tamsin Walker