From widespread floods to severe heatwaves, ESOTC 2023 puts Europe’s climate in focus

Last year Europe experienced its joint warmest or second warmest year on record, depending on the dataset, while the average sea surface temperature across Europe was the warmest on record. The 2023 edition of the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s (C3S*) European State of the Climate (ESOTC) report, produced jointly with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for the first time, paints a sombre picture. Along with record temperatures came drier-than-average surface soil moisture, wildfires, droughts, and flooding.