According to Euronews.green, June was the 9th consecutive month that brought abundant rainfall in Belgium, a new record for the country that hasn't been broken in 119 years. Around mid-June severe rain, which brought one month worth of precipitations in just a week, caused heavy floodings.

Furthermore, the sun wasn't too much on the sky, either, which is similar to most of the other Northern European countries, meaning that temperatures rarely broke the 20-degree Celsius mark.

Residents of these nations are still waiting for the real summer, while those in the south are already over it. The recent heatwaves, accentuated by the hot air coming from Africa, posed many issues both for the citizens, as well as for the infrastructure. Meteorologists at Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) recently warned that June 2024 was the warmest sixth month in recorded history, making it the 13th month in a row that broke temperatures records.

While Spain, Italy and Greece remain some of the top destinations for the Summer, it seems that some tourists have changed their mind about spending the holidays there, as the number of expected tourists crossing their borders dropped by 10% since 2022.

Also, weeks before the start of the Paris Olympic Games, the organizers expressed serious concerns over the health and well-being of the athletes, due to record-high temperatures.

Authorities in Spain took measures to prevent sickness and death, as they released more accurate maps for heatwave predictions. In Italy, it was not the heat that caused the most damage, but floods, thunderstorms and landslides.

Data shows that from 2021 until 2023, the number of extreme weather events increased from 11,442 to 16,956 and the statistic includes heavy rain fall, damaging lightning strikes and even tornadoes.

El Niño and La Niña are two of the reasons behind this drastic change in Europe's climate, which happen across the jet streams in the Pacific Ocean, but influence the broader weather of our planet.

However, the main factor here is, of course, human induced climate change and experts at Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) urge European leaders to take more serious action in lowering the continent's share of greenhouse gas emissions.

Of the 30 most severe heatwaves that hit Europe, 23 were recorded after 2000 and five happened in the past five years.