BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Jelena Popovic normally loves summer and all it brings along, including the hot weather. But this year it was just too much. “This summer was too hot, you couldn’t walk in the city.
It was only pleasant when you swim,” said Popovic, a resident of Belgrade, Serbia’s capital. “It was like a tropical summer, like we live in Africa and not in Europe.” This was true for much of the Balkans, a region in southeast Europe that is used to hot summers but where this one broke previous records with repeated heat waves and almost a totally dry July and August.
Experts say the summer of 2024 in the Balkans was the hottest since measurements started more than 130 years ago. Long periods with that didn’t fall below 20 C (68 F) overnight have pushed average temperatures to new highs, meteorologists explained. “Summer normally means exchange of hot days with high temperatures and then a break after five to six days with rain and thunderstorms,” Serbian meteorologist Nedeljko Todorovic said.
“But this happened only in June. Practically entire July and August had no rain while high temperatures persisted.” Climate scientists say that global warming caused mostly by burning fossil fuels has led to warmer temperatures, with the world recently experiencing .
European climate service Copernicus reported on Friday that the summer of 2024 also was Earth’s hottest on record, making it even more likely that this year will end up as the warmest humanity .