Western Europe has experienced its warmest June on record, European Union scientists confirmed, analyzing data after a heat wave at the end of the month, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Last month was also the second warmest June on record globally, and sea surface temperatures around the world reached their highest June level on record, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in its monthly bulletin.
The average temperature in Western Europe in June was 20.74 degrees Celsius - more than 3 degrees above the 1991 average - 2020, the data show.
The Copernicus Office defines the region as stretching from Spain and the UK eastwards to Italy, Germany and parts of Austria. Western Europe has experienced three intense heatwaves in the past three months, with Spain and Portugal again gripped by extreme heat this week.
“June 2026 showed how deeply the climate is changing,” said Samantha Burgess, strategy manager at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. She said the consequences were “increasingly intense heatwaves, sustained warming of the oceans and increasing risks to people, ecosystems and infrastructure in Europe and beyond.”
National authorities reported more than 4,700 additional deaths in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands during the June heatwave. The total in other countries is likely to be higher. Extreme temperatures have also contributed to the spread of wildfires in the Iberian Peninsula and France, as well as to worsening drought conditions.
Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from the burning of coal, oil and gas, have raised the average temperature of the planet by about 1.4 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial period in the 19th century, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The higher baseline temperature means that heat waves today can reach higher maximum values.
“The link between heat waves and global warming is one of the most direct: on a warmer planet there will be more heat waves and they will be more intense“, said climatologist Joeri Roegel of Imperial College London.