Europe's intense spring heatwave showed how quickly climate extremes have become the “new normal” according to scientists after May broke national records across the continent. May was also the second warmest globally.
The EU’s Earth observation service Copernicus said that the speed of the swing from cooler -than-average temperatures to high temperatures in western countries had given people, crops and ecosystems little time to acclimatise.
“The unusually early and intense heatwave demonstrates how quickly climate extremes are becoming the new normal rather than the exception,” said Samatha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
