Europe's hottest summer on record also deadliest, study finds

Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, with temperatures about 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1991 to 2020 average. Some days were nearly 22 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than normal.

The continent endured five severe heat waves between May and October. Researchers modeled heat-related deaths across 854 urban areas covering about 40 percent of the population.

“It's not just summer. It's been turbocharged by climate change and now it's dangerous.”

The analysis found more than 50,000 excess deaths in cities alone, making this summer by far the deadliest on record. The next closest years were 2022 and 2003, with 29,000 and 28,000 excess deaths respectively.

Researchers attributed about two-thirds of the 50,000 deaths to human-caused climate change. Clair Barnes of Imperial College London said even small temperature increases dramatically raise health risks.

Kai Chen of Yale University, who was not involved in the study, said the attribution method is standard. The study will be published next week in Nature Health.

Barnes said climate change has turbocharged summer heat, making it dangerous rather than just uncomfortable. The findings show climate change is no longer a distant threat.