France, April 22 -- Data published by two leading climate monitors this Monday says that Europe endured a record number of 'extreme heat stress' days in 2023, underscoring the threat of increasingly deadly summers across the continent.

In a year of contrasting extremes, Europe witnessed scorching heatwaves but also catastrophic flooding, withering droughts, violent storms and its largest wildfire.

According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the UN's World Meteorological Organization in a new joint report published this Monday, these disasters inflicted billions of dollars in damages and impacted more than two million people.

The consequences for health were particularly acute, with heat singled out by these agencies as ...