Eight European cities are about a degree hotter in summer than they were in the late 20th century, an analysis by Global News shows.
We looked at temperature records for Berlin, Paris, Malta, Athens, Gibraltar, Madrid, Rome and Toulouse. The places were selected for having very long temperature records. Berlin’s temperature records, for example, go back to 1880.
Rome, Madrid and Toulouse were more than a degree hotter in the 21st century in June, July and August than they were from 1980 to 2000. Berlin and Paris were just under a degree hotter, while Gibraltar, Athens and Malta were between .5 and .7 degrees hotter.
Europe is suffering a punishing heat wave that threatens to be as bad as 2003, when thousands of people, mostly elderly, died in France.
On Friday, France registered its highest temperature since records began. The mercury hit 45.1º in Villevieille, in the southerly Provence region, the weather forecaster Meteo France said, beating a record set in the 2003 heat wave.
The World Meteorological Organization said 2019 was on track to be among the world’s hottest years, and that 2015-2019 would then be the hottest five-year period on record.
This week’s weather is extreme, but in recent years, climate change has caused cities across Europe to be hotter in summer than they have been since weather records were first collected.
WATCH: Across Europe, from Berlin to Madrid, cities are getting hotter and hotter
Berlin
Paris
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Madrid
Gibraltar
Athens
Malta
Rome
Toulouse
With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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