Europe Suffered from Heatwave... June Temperatures 1.6 Degrees Higher Than Average

[Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Last month, the temperature across the entire European continent was 1.6 degrees Celsius higher than the average June temperature, making it the second highest June temperature on record, according to major foreign media citing the European Union's Earth observation agency Copernicus on the 9th.

Foreign media diagnosed that while catastrophic fires occurred worldwide last year, Europe entered the fire season earlier this year due to an early heatwave.

With the first heatwave of the year, fires broke out consecutively last month in Spain and Germany. Temperatures in Spain rose up to 43 degrees Celsius last month, and Germany recorded a high of 39.2 degrees. France already experienced its hottest May on record in May, with temperatures in the Rhone Valley reaching up to 39 degrees.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), wildfires are usually rare in the Mediterranean region around this time of year, but this year, an area four times larger than the average burned area from 2006 to 2021 has already been scorched.

Dry soil is creating favorable conditions for fires to occur. Copernicus pointed out that humidity is low in most parts of the European continent as well as in Northern European regions such as Sweden and Finland.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, approved earlier this year by 270 scientists from 67 countries, warned that wildfires in southern Europe will become more frequent due to climate change. It also predicted that central and northern Europe could become new wildfire-prone areas within a few years.