Heatwaves, Drought, Wildfires: West Europe's First Two Summer Months Marked by Extremes

Heatwaves, drought, and wildfires: The first two summer months in Western Europe were marked by extremes. According to the EU climate service Copernicus, the world's oceans also heated up to record levels. A dried-out football pitch in Switzerland (on July 31) illustrates the situation; the EU climate service speaks of "extraordinarily persistent heat.

In June and July, Western Europe experienced its hottest temperatures ever recorded for those two months. The average temperature reached 21.62 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous record set in 2022. This was announced by the EU's Copernicus observation program. The figure reflects "the extraordinarily persistent heat of this summer.

However, Copernicus notes a pronounced temperature divide from Western to Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, where conditions were significantly cooler. For Germany, the data also show that the southwest was notably warmer than the northeast. For Europe as a whole, last month was the eleventh-warmest July on record, with an average temperature of 20.49 degrees Celsius.