This text is part of the Weather Preparedness & Resilience Toolbox developed by the YOUROPE Event Safety (YES) Group within YOUROPE’s 3F project (Future-Fit Festivals). It is aimed at everyone involved in planning, building, and operating open-air events. It helps festivals and other outdoor events become truly weather-ready by offering both practical and research-based resources as well as background information on weather and climate. Learn how to design safer and more weather-resilient outdoor events.

Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2025: European State of the Climate 2024

doi.org/10.24381/14j9‑s541
climate.copernicus.eu/ESOTC/2024

The ESOTC 2024 is the authoritative annual assessment of observed climate conditions. It provides descriptions and analyses of climate conditions in Europe in 2024, covering variables from across the Earth system, key events and their impacts, and a discussion of climate policy and action with a focus on resilience of the built environment.

Key Findings:

Europe is the fastest-warming continent

• Europe has been warming approximately twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s.
• 2024 was the warmest year on record in Europe, with record annual temperatures across large parts of central, eastern, and southeastern Europe.

Heat stress is now a dominant operational risk

• Record or near-record numbers of:
  • Strong heat stress days (UTCI ≥ 32 °C)
  • Tropical nights (≥ 20 °C minimum temperature)
• In southeastern Europe, 43 of 97 summer days were heatwave days; heat stress increasingly extends into late summer and early autumn.

Flooding risk is increasing

• 2024 saw the most widespread flooding in Europe since 2013.
• 30 % of the European river network exceeded high flood thresholds; 12 % exceeded severe thresholds.
• Flooding caused at least 335 fatalities and €18+ billion in losses, with major events in central Europe and Spain.

The ESOTC 2024 confirms that extreme weather is no longer exceptional in Europe — it is a structural planning condition for open-air festivals.
“Normal summer conditions” are no longer a valid planning baseline. Heat-related thresholds (staff deployment, water supply, shaded areas, work-rest cycles) must be systematically recalibrated.

More Information

Interactive Version of the report: http://climate.copernicus.eu/ESOTC/2024