Climate change threatens Europe with new weather extremes

Getting warmer: A resident walks through flood water near his home in England. Summer temperatures in Europe last year were one degree Celsius above the average of the previous 20 years. — AP

CLIMATE change produced another record-breaking year of extreme weather in Europe in 2021, triggering catastrophic flooding and the hottest summer on record, according to scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Summer temperatures in Europe last year were one degree Celsius above the average of the previous 20 years, and the rainfall that battered Germany and Belgium broke records, the scientists said in their annual European State of the Climate report.