Europe experiences warmest year on record in 2020

Met Office are reporting that when compared with the average for the period 1981-2010, many countries reported their highest annual average temperatures, including: Belgium (+1.9 °C), the Netherlands (+1.6 °C), Luxembourg (+2.1 °C), France (+1.5 °C), Spain (+1.2 °C), Switzerland (+1.5 °C), Norway (+1.9 °C), Poland (+1.9 °C), Estonia (+2.4 °C), Lithuania (+2.3 °C), Finland (+2.4 °C), Sweden (+2.0 °C), Belarus (+2.3 C°), Ukraine (+2.8 °C), European Russia (+2.9 °C) and Kazakhstan (+ 2.2°C). All five of the warmest years for annual average temperature in Europe have occurred since 2014.

Although parts of north-west Europe were relatively cooler, 2020 also saw the UK reach its third highest annual average temperature, after 2014 and 2006.

The 31st State of the Climate report – published online by the American Meteorological Society and covering 2020 - also showed that the average surface temperature over land areas in the Arctic was the highest since the series began in 1900, 121 years ago.