Europe One Degree Warmer
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An analysis of over 100 million meteorological data points, from 118 years of weatherdata, shows that every major city in Europe is warmer in the 21st century than it was in the 20th, with the average city being 1°C warmer compared to the last century.
We analysed over 100,000,000 data points made available by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), an international organization which computes so-called “re-analyses” of weather data, based on a variety of sources such as weather stations, weather balloons, buoys and satellite observations. Such data is well-suited to study weather patterns over periods spanning over a century, because it harmonizes inputs from thousands of data sources and makes comparisons in time and space possible. While absolute values might differ from data collected at weather stations directly, especially because cities suffer from the “heat island effect”, meaning that temperatures within the cities can be up to 10°C higher than in their surrounding countryside, the overall trends are the same.
Main findings
- In 203 of the 558 cities analysed, 2018 stands out as the warmest year since 1900, and for a majority of the cities, 2018 was among the warmest five years measured. The data for this investigation was last updated in April 2019.
- In the Nordic and Baltic regions, in much of Andalusia and in South-Eastern Romania, average temperatures in the 21st century were already much warmer, sometimes by more than 1.5 degrees, than in the 20th century
- Higher temperatures, especially heat waves, were responsible for several thousands deaths since 2000. Despite the enactment of national heat plans in several countries, higher temperatures still cause excess deaths, not only in southern cities.
Stories
An update on the temperature data from 558 cities and their surroundings in Europe shows that 2018 was the warmest year since 1900 in 203 cities. Local response to the climate breakdown varies widely, according to a survey of a 61 local authorities in six countries by the European Data Journalism Network.
June 21, 2019
Hydrogeological disasters in Slovenia account for over 150 million euros of damage a year. And they are often worsened by human interventions. Especially because the country has tolerated construction in flood-prone areas for several decades.
February 16, 2019
In July 2018 European Data Journalism Network (EDJNet), a consortium of media from all over Europe, among which H-Alter, started a survey among 505 European cities about local responses to temperature changes. The results of the survey are used to explore how cities respond to temperature increases, and they also give an insight to general attitude towards climate change.
January 9, 2019
Europe keeps getting warmer, according to the first first collaborative investigation by EDJNet. The investigation involves the analysis of more than a century of meteorological data for 558 European cities.
December 20, 2018
Longer uninterrupted heat periods in Slovenia will be increasingly frequent and intense. The country does not have an integrated strategy to combat climate change yet.
December 11, 2018
The European Data Journalism Network has recently published a collaborative investigation on the dramatic increase of average temperatures in Europe in the last century. The outcome was jointly published in 16 countries and 12 languages, and were republished by more than 100 European media outlets.
November 28, 2018
In the coming years, Slovenian citizens will experience a whole range of negative effects of climate change, including heat waves, winters without snow, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events
November 7, 2018
EDJNet's investigation shows that every major city in Europe is warmer in the 21st century than it was in the 20th. Seven Croatian cities are included in the analysis: Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek, Slavonski Brod, Pula, and Zadar.
October 30, 2018
In Évora the temperature rose by almost one degree. Cities in Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and Southern Spain warmed the most.
October 22, 2018
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the average temperature in eleven Bulgarian cities has increased by more than one degree compared to the average temperature throughout the 20th century.
October 22, 2018
Climate change doesn’t only affect polar bears. The rise in temperatures affects academic performances and hospital admissions, and many Spanish cities suffer more than any others in Europe.
October 22, 2018
Global warming has reached Germany: everywhere the temperature is rising. We reveal which regions have recorded the strongest increases.
October 22, 2018
The data unit
Nicolas Kayser-Bril (J++, coordinator) is a Franco-German freelance developer, data-driven journalist and trainer. He co-founded and managed Journalism++ from 2011 to 2017, after leading the datajournalism unit at Owni. He works at Algorithm Watch.
Leonard Wallentin (J++, coordinator) is a freelance journalist and concept developer working for Journalism++.
