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In March 2020, the first known cases of COVID‐19 occurred in Europe. Subsequently, the pandemic developed a seasonal pattern. The incidence of COVID‐19 comprises spatial heterogeneity and seasonal variations, with lower and/or shorter peaks resulting in lower total incidence and higher and/or longer peaks resulting higher total incidence. The reason behind this phenomena is still unclear. Unraveling factors that explain why certain places have higher versus lower total COVID‐19 incidence can help health decision makers understand and plan for future waves of the pandemic. We test whether differences in the total incidence of COVID‐19 within five European countries (Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, and Spain), correlate with two environmental factors: the Köppen‐Geiger climate zones and the Continentality Index, while statistically controlling for crowding. Our results show that during the first 16 months of the pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021), climate zones with larger annual differences in temperature and annually distributed precipitation show a higher total incidence than climate zones with smaller differences in temperature and dry seasons. This coincides with lower continentality values. Total incidence increases with continentality, up to a Continentality Index value of 19, where a peak is reached in the semicontinental zone. Low continentality (high oceanic influence) appears to be a strong suppressing factor for COVID‐19 spread. The incidence in our study area is lowest at open low continentality west coast areas. Plain Language Summary: In March 2020, the first known cases of COVID‐19 occurred in Europe. Over the next 16 months (March 2020 to July 2021) a pattern emerged where some areas had higher versus lower COVID‐19 spread. We studied whether this pattern could be explained by climatological factors in five European countries (Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, and Spain). Our results show that areas with larger annual temperature ranges and year‐round rain had higher COVID‐19 spread than areas with smaller annual temperature ranges and dry seasons. We also examined continentality, which measures the influence of the ocean on climate. In Europe, where predominant winds come from the west, we find the highest oceanic influence at open west coasts; in our study area these are represented by north‐west Spain, northernmost Germany, and south‐west Norway. In these areas, COVID‐19 spread was lowest. With decreasing oceanic influence, COVID‐19 spread was higher. For the five countries we studied, we found highest COVID‐19 spread in south‐east Norway, the entire south of Sweden, the south‐eastern part of Germany, northern Italy, and central Spain. Healthcare decision makers in areas that have wide ranges of temperature and rain throughout the year or that have little oceanic influence should expect a higher COVID‐19 spread. Key Points: We study the reason for within country differences of the COVID‐19 pandemic for Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, and SpainCOVID‐19 incidence is lower in climate zones with smaller annual temperature ranges and a clear division between wet and dry seasonsIncidence patterns can be explained by continentality; oceanic impact limits COVID‐19 at open west coasts in the European west wind zone [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mediterranean basin is one of the most varied areas worldwide in terms of biodiversity and species richness due to its climatic and geomorphological features, and it is characterized by multi-faceted habitats where forests play a crucial role. Nowadays, the geographic distribution of forest species is well known and multiple geographic datasets are available with different spatial details. However, protection and conservation strategies need more specific information to identify areas with high conservation priority or more vulnerable to the ongoing environmental change ("hot spots"). To this purpose, tree species distribution data were investigated through hot spot analysis using Geographic Information Systems. The analysis was carried out on presence data of ten relevant forest tree species/classes across Mediterranean Europe. By combining spatial analysis and spatial statistics, we identified high and very high hot spot areas for the selected species/classes, which were validated by assessing their biological significance. Given the sub-continental extent of the study, a multiple scale approach was applied ranging from regional, subregional to local scale, coherently with the potential multi-level and multi-sector users of similar data and tools. Our results confirm the feasibility of the approach used to increase the quality and quantity of information achievable from available forest distribution datasets. The hot spot maps obtained are a useful support for further spatial evaluations, and may help environmental decision makers to identify priority areas for forest protection and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]