Europe experienced its third-warmest summer on record in 2026, while Western Europe recorded its hottest summer, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service. The season also brought extreme heat stress across large parts of the continent, drought affecting almost half of Europe, unusually warm ocean waters and the lowest average river flows since records began in 1992.
By the end of the summer, a record 52% of Europe had experienced “very strong” heat stress, Copernicus Climate Service, known as C3S, said in findings published on 2 October 2026. Under the service’s methodology, this category applies where temperatures feel higher than 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
About 80% of Europe experienced “strong” heat stress. C3S defines that level as conditions in which temperatures feel like more than 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, said the scale of the heat distinguished the summer. “One of the things that stands out for 2026 is that the heat was not only remarkable for its intensity, but also for its geographical extent,” she said.
The heat coincided with dry conditions across almost half of Europe. European rivers registered their lowest average flows since measurements began in 1992, according to C3S.
Conditions in European waters also departed sharply from usual summer levels. C3S said 56% of the European ocean was much warmer than average. Record-high summer sea surface temperatures affected 22% of those waters.
Burgess said the significance of the season lay in the overlap between the indicators. “That's one of the defining characteristics of summer this year, that it was not a single record. It was the way that multiple records appeared together across the climate system,” she said.
The C3S findings document the continental reach of the summer’s heat stress through its thresholds for felt temperature, alongside evidence of drought, reduced river flows and warmer seas. The service did not identify in its findings which regions were most severely affected, what caused the simultaneous records, or how long the conditions could persist.
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