Hottest March On Record: Europe Sees Temperatures Soar Over 2°C Above Average
March 2025 has officially gone down as the hottest March on record across Europe, with average air temperatures soaring 2.41°C above the 1991–2020 average, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
While that number may sound small, it represents a continental average, meaning some areas saw even more extreme temperatures. Eastern Europe and southwest Russia were among the hottest regions.
A heat map shared by Copernicus shows much of the continent shaded in dark orange and red, signalling just how far temperatures strayed from normal.
The month wasn’t just warm, it was also defined by rainfall extremes. The UK, Ireland, and a large stretch from central Europe to Greece experienced far drier conditions than usual.
Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal were hit by storms and heavy rainfall, leading to floods but also helping refill drought-hit reservoirs.
Climate experts have flagged growing concerns for what this could mean heading into summer.
Drier-than-usual conditions in parts of Europe are already fuelling early wildfires, and environmental groups have warned the continent could be facing more severe heatwaves and fire risks in the months to come.
Samantha Burgess, from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said the new data highlights how temperature records continue to be broken.
Greenpeace’s Rebecca Newsom stressed that the changing climate is a growing threat to food systems, the wider economy, and communities. She’s calling for new taxes on oil companies to help fund the response to climate-related disasters.
United Nations scientists have long warned that human activities like burning fossil fuels are causing the planet to warm, raising average global temperatures and intensifying extreme weather events.
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