Western Europe sweltered through hottest June on record: EU monitor

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Last month was the warmest on record for the region, with heat up to 46 degrees Celsius in Spain and Portugal

Agence France-Presse |
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Street vendors sell hats to tourists in front of the Royal Palace during a heatwave in Madrid, Spain. The country has seen temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Photo: AFP

June was the hottest it has ever been in western Europe, with last month seeing “extreme” temperatures and punishing back-to-back heatwaves, the European Union (EU) climate monitor Copernicus said on Wednesday.

Globally, last month was the third warmest on record, continuing a blistering heat streak in recent years as the planet warms due to humanity’s emissions of greenhouse gases. The previous hottest June was in 2024, and the second hottest was in 2023, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

Sweltering extremes were particularly pronounced in Europe, which is warming several times faster than the global average.

Millions of people were exposed to high heat stress across parts of the continent as daily average temperatures in western Europe climbed to levels rarely seen before – and never so early in the summer.

Several countries recorded surface temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with heat reaching up to 46 degrees in Spain and Portugal, according to Copernicus.

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The Mediterranean hits all-time high

Samantha Burgess, the EU monitor’s Strategic Lead for Climate, said the impact of the heatwaves in Europe was “exceptional”, intensified by record sea surface temperatures in the western Mediterranean, which hit an all-time daily maximum in June.

“In a warming world, heatwaves are likely to become more frequent, more intense and impact more people across Europe,” she said.

The two heatwaves – from June 17 to 22, and again from June 30 to July 2 – were linked to heat domes trapping warm air over affected regions, prolonging the stifling weather and worsening pollution and wildfire conditions.

Millions of people were exposed to high heat stress across parts of the continent as daily average temperatures in western Europe climbed to levels rarely seen before – and never so early in the summer. Photo: AP

Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and much of the Balkans saw some of the hottest “feels-like” temperatures, which measure the impact on the human body by taking into account factors like humidity.

Maximum feels-like temperatures north of Lisbon, Portugal, hit 48 degrees, around 7 degrees above average and associated with “extreme heat stress”, said Copernicus.

Sea surface temperatures across the western Mediterranean were “exceptionally high” in the month, some 5 degrees above average in some areas, with temperatures surging to a record 27 degrees on June 30.

The higher water temperatures reduced nighttime air cooling along the coasts, contributed to higher humidity and harmed marine life, Copernicus said.

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June saw weather extremes across the world

An Agence France-Presse analysis based on Copernicus data found that 12 countries and around 790 million people experienced record heat last month worldwide.

Dangerous heat blanketed parts of the United States, while in China, 102 weather stations logged the hottest-ever June day, with some measuring temperatures above 40 degrees, according to state media.

Devastating wildfires blazed across parts of Canada and southern Europe, while deadly flooding swept through areas of South Africa, China, India and Pakistan.

Children use foam sheets to float in a waterlogged street after heavy monsoon showers in Kolkata, India. Photo: AFP

Copernicus said parts of western Europe were drier than average, while particularly parched conditions were seen in North America, eastern and southern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, parts of central and eastern Asia, and southern South America.

Parts of the world saw wetter-than-average conditions, including the southern US, parts of China and southern Brazil.

Global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures but also the knock-on effects of the extra heat on the atmosphere and the seas.

Warmer air can hold more water vapour, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.

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Extraordinary heat over the last two years

The Copernicus data set draws on billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations.

While this was partly fuelled by warmer El Niño conditions, temperatures have remained at record or near-record levels even after that subsided last year.

Copernicus said June was 1.3 degrees above the temperatures of the pre-industrial era – roughly the estimated current level of overall global warming.

But temperature extremes in recent years mean that it is one of only three months in the last 24 to have dipped below 1.5-degree warming.

People rest under a water misting system to cool down on a hot day in Tokyo. Japan also experienced its hottest June on record, a weather agency has said. Photo: AFP

The Paris climate deal saw countries agree to try to limit long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees. Major and lasting climate and environmental changes become more likely beyond this number.

Many scientists now say it will be almost impossible to stay under that level, with a breach expected around 2030 or earlier, which may leave the world with an unprecedented challenge: reversing global warming.

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