Last year was the warmest on record across Europe, breaking the previous high mark by a considerable distance, say scientists. Temperatures across the region were more than 1.9C above the long-term average between 1981 and 2010. The State of the Climate 2020 report from the American Meteorological Society says temperatures in the Arctic are also rising rapidly. The temperature over land there was the highest since records began in 1900. Reports earlier this year had confirmed that 2020 was Europe's warmest on record and one of the three hottest globally.

This new data shows that Europe's temperature margin over previous years was significantly greater than previously thought. Not only was the year 1.9C above the long-term average, it was more than 0.5C greater than the previous high mark. "This level of difference to the previous long-term average, which is a large difference, is something that is concerning," said Dr Robert Dunn, a senior climate scientist at the UK Met Office. "It is something to sit up and take notice of, but it's not just the temperatures that are increasing, the extreme events, the heat waves we're seeing this year, and last year as well. We're seeing these responses across the world."

Other researchers agreed that the scale of the record-breaking heat in Europe was troubling. "The amount by which the previous record has been exceeded should worry us all," said Prof Gabi Hegerl, professor of climate system science at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved with the study. "European temperatures are well measured and can be tracked back to the beginning of industrialisation and beyond, using documentary evidence and proxy records. This long-term context emphasises how unusual this warmth is."

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