Last month, temperature records were broken in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and Portugal, as a ‘heatwave’ from North Africa pushed temperatures well above normal levels across Western Europe, affecting travel patterns.
Europe experienced one of the hottest Mays on record last month, as part of an unusually early heatwave, which the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service warned is becoming the ‘new normal’.
It was the second warmest May ever recorded globally, while the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and Portugal broke their own records as warm air from North Africa pushed temperatures well above normal levels across Western Europe.
Record May temperatures and the increasingly frequent heatwaves in popular European and Mediterranean destinations are inevitably influencing booking behaviour. Many travellers, for example, appear to be avoiding the traditional peak summer holiday season and shifting towards bookings earlier in spring or later in the season — in September or even October to November — contributing to the extension of the tourist season in popular summer destinations in Southern Europe (such as Greece, Spain and Italy). At the same time, there is growing demand for cooler destinations in Central Europe.
‘The month was characterised by a rapid transition from much colder-than-average conditions to one of the most intense early-season heatwaves ever observed in Western Europe,’ the Copernicus service said in its May bulletin.
‘The unusually early and intense heatwave demonstrates how quickly extreme climate events are becoming the new normal rather than the exception,’ said Samantha Burgess, Head of Climate Strategy at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates Copernicus.
According to the service, ‘feels-like’ temperatures reached 35 to 40°C across large parts of Europe.
‘The rapid transition likely increased impacts on populations, leaving little time for people, as well as crops and ecosystems, to adapt to much higher temperatures,’ it said.
Globally, the average surface air temperature reached 15.81°C, the second highest on record after May 2024, according to Copernicus.
Sea surface temperatures were also the second highest ever recorded, again after May 2024, as conditions shift towards the El Niño climate phenomenon.
Forecasts warn that the upcoming El Niño could be one of the strongest ever recorded, pushing global temperatures to historic highs by 2027.
‘Temperatures remained at exceptionally high levels’ in a region of the tropical Pacific, the Copernicus service said.
El Niño has an 80% chance of developing between June and August, increasing the risk of extreme weather events, the World Meteorological Organization said last week.
The most recent El Niño contributed to making 2023 the second warmest year on record and 2024 the hottest year ever recorded.
