Western Europe records hottest June-July on record: EU climate monitor

Western Europe endured its hottest June-July on record, with climate change driving a summer of relentless heat, severe drought and devastating wildfires, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said Monday.

The region recorded an average temperature of 21.62°C across June and July, surpassing the previous record set in 2022. Copernicus said the figures reflected the “exceptional persistence of heat” across western Europe this summer.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, and successive heatwaves have brought scorching temperatures and exceptionally dry conditions. Soil moisture levels were “significantly lower” than during the severe drought of July 2022, Copernicus said.

“This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another,” said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus.

Very dry conditions were recorded across much of western and central Europe in July, including France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, the UK, Ireland and parts of Iceland. River levels also fell unusually low, with the Seine, Rhine and Danube among the worst affected. The disruption has hit transport, irrigation and energy production in several countries.

The combination of extreme heat and drought has also heightened wildfire risks. Scientists say Europe is experiencing an increase in weather conditions conducive to extreme fires as the planet warms. France and Spain have faced some of their most severe wildfires in decades, while major blazes have also struck parts of North America.

Record heat in the oceans

Copernicus also reported that global sea surface temperatures reached a record high for the second consecutive month in July, driven by marine heatwaves around Europe and a strengthening El Niño in the Pacific.

Global average sea surface temperatures reached 20.96°C in July, exceeding the previous record set in 2023. Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said unusually warm waters in parts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic had contributed, but the developing El Niño was likely the main driver.

“We are now facing a very large El Niño — possibly unprecedented in terms of amplitude,” Buontempo said on August 5, adding that the tropical Pacific was becoming an increasingly important contributor to global temperatures.

El Niño is the warm phase of a natural climate cycle that raises temperatures in the tropical Pacific and can influence extreme weather, including droughts and floods, around the world. It can also amplify warming in a climate already heated by greenhouse gas emissions.

El Niño events generally peak toward the end of the year before releasing heat from the ocean into the atmosphere, potentially pushing global temperatures higher. The previous El Niño contributed to 2023 and 2024 becoming the second- and warmest years on record, respectively.

Buontempo said scientists expect global average temperatures to reach another record later this year or in early 2027.

Climate warning intensifies

Globally, July was tied for the second-warmest July on record, with the average surface air temperature 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial baseline, according to Copernicus.

The past 11 years have been the hottest on record. Buontempo warned that current temperatures are unprecedented in the experience of modern civilisation.

“The main driver for this warming — as we know — are the greenhouse gases,” he said.

The world’s oceans absorb most of the excess heat generated by human carbon emissions and play a crucial role in regulating the climate. Rising ocean temperatures can intensify storms and rainfall and contribute to coral bleaching and other ecological damage.

Copernicus combines billions of satellite and weather observations from land and sea to monitor the planet’s climate, with its datasets extending back to 1940.