 The summer of 2015 was marked by extreme heat and drought across much of Europe. Temperature records were broken and soil moisture levels dropped significantly due to a lack of rainfall. This resulted in record low river flows in some major rivers, particularly in Eastern Europe. Additionally, there were four heatwave events which were caused by persistent blocking patterns in the atmosphere. These blocked patterns were also responsible for the large positive geopotential height anomalies in the North Atlantic and negative anomalies in the Central North Atlantic which contributed to the extreme weather conditions. Finally, the lagged relationship between the Western Mediterranean Sea surface temperature and drought conditions in Europe has been identified, providing valuable information for predicting drought conditions in the future. This article was authored by Emmy Anita, L. M. Talikson, D. G. Kingston, and others.