June-july Period on Record, According to a New Report From Copernicus, the European Commission's Earth Observation Program in Partnership

Last month also brought the third and fourth heatwaves since May, marking an exceptionally torrid summer. Scientists at the Copernicus center said the average surface air temperature in July was 16.9 degrees Celsius, 0.67 degrees above the 1991-2020 average and 1.47 degrees above the estimated pre-industrial (1850-1900) average — just shy of the 1.5-degree limit set by the Paris Agreement. The resulting drought conditions drove exceptional wildfire activity in terms of burned area and emissions.

River flows in the affected regions were well below average, exceptionally low in some arid areas, with the Seine, Rhine and Danube particularly hard hit. The alarm extends to the seas: "The average sea surface temperature for the extrapolar ocean was the highest ever recorded for the month, at 20.96 degrees, surpassing the previous record set in 2023, Copernicus said. Exceptionally high temperatures were observed across much of the tropical Pacific, where El Niño conditions are expected to strengthen further in coming months.

In Europe, record values were recorded along the Atlantic and in the western Mediterranean, linked to widespread marine heatwaves of strong or severe intensity that hit coastal communities and ecosystems. Temperatures well above average also affected Western Europe — particularly France, Spain, England and Ireland — while below-average values were recorded across much of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. "July was the third consecutive month of exceptional heat in Western Europe, bringing the combined June-July temperature to a new record for the region, said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat and extreme temperatures further intensified widespread drought. As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build up more easily. This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying extreme heat events, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing each other.