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The hot days index represents the total number of days in a year registering maximum daily temperature above a fixed threshold. 30 °C is here considered as a suitable threshold at pan-European level, but higher thresholds can be considered depending on the regional climate conditions.

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The cooling degree days index represents a proxy for the energy demand for cooling buildings. It is computed from the outdoor air temperature as cumulated daily deviation above a given base temperature threshold from April to September (see the ETC-CCA Technical Paper for details). The temperature threshold, period and formulation of this index can vary according to the local climate and applications. A base temperature of 22 °C is considered here as representative for assessing the energy demand at the pan-European scale and daily minimum, mean and maximum temperature values are used as input ECVs.

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The heating degree days index represents a proxy for the use of energy required for heating buildings. It is computed from the outdoor air temperature as the cumulated daily deviation from a base temperature threshold from October to March (see the ETC-CCA Technical Paper for details). The temperature threshold, period and formulation can vary according to the local climate and applications. A base temperature of 15.5 °C is considered here as representative for the pan-European scale and daily minimum, mean and maximum temperature values are used as input variables.

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The growing degree days index represents a measure of the accumulated heat available for vegetation growth. It is calculated as the accumulated sum over the year of the daily mean temperature exceedances of a base threshold (see the ETC-CCA Technical Paper for details). A base temperature of +5 °C is considered as representative for most European crops. Other definitions of the index are possible, including variations of the minimum temperature, the use of an upper temperature threshold, and restrictions to a given growing season.

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Grid boxes outlined in solid black contain at least three stations and so are likely to be more representative of the grid box. Significant (at the 5 % level) long-term trend is shown by a black dot (In the map above, this is the case for all grid boxes). The map below shows average annual air temperatures over Iberian Peninsula and Scandinavia, respectively.

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