PARIS: A record 52% of Europe was exposed to intense heat stress during the exceptionally hot summer that seared the continent this year, the EU's climate monitor said Friday.
Fuelled by climate change, the world's fastest-warming continent endured a relentless series of heatwaves that began unusually early in the spring, shattering temperature records and causing tens of thousands of excess deaths.
"One of the things that stands out for 2026 is that the heat was not only remarkable for its intensity, but also for its geographical extent," said Samantha Burgess, climate lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates Copernicus.
